{"http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.14288\/1.0087797":{"http:\/\/vivoweb.org\/ontology\/core#departmentOrSchool":[{"value":"Arts, Faculty of","type":"literal","lang":"en"},{"value":"Asian Studies, Department of","type":"literal","lang":"en"}],"http:\/\/www.europeana.eu\/schemas\/edm\/dataProvider":[{"value":"DSpace","type":"literal","lang":"en"}],"https:\/\/open.library.ubc.ca\/terms#degreeCampus":[{"value":"UBCV","type":"literal","lang":"en"}],"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/creator":[{"value":"Hawes, Colin S.C.","type":"literal","lang":"en"}],"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/issued":[{"value":"2009-03-30T20:58:09Z","type":"literal","lang":"en"},{"value":"1996","type":"literal","lang":"en"}],"http:\/\/vivoweb.org\/ontology\/core#relatedDegree":[{"value":"Doctor of Philosophy - PhD","type":"literal","lang":"en"}],"https:\/\/open.library.ubc.ca\/terms#degreeGrantor":[{"value":"University of British Columbia","type":"literal","lang":"en"}],"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/description":[{"value":"A detailed study of the poetry (shi R#) of Ouyang Xiu (1007-1072). Though\r\nOuyang Xiu was one of the major cultural figures of the northern Song period (960-1126),\r\nlater generations have rather neglected his poetry. After a brief introduction explaining this\r\nneglect, my study begins with a biographical sketch, outlining Ouyang's public career and\r\nconcentrating on events that may have shaped his development as a poet.\r\nChapter two deals with Ouyang's poems on mountains, one of his most favoured\r\ntopics. I describe three kinds of mountain poems: dynamic, forceful works; tranquil works;\r\nand those which compare different kinds of mountains in an intellectual manner.\r\nFrequently domestic or cultural objects \u2014 stone screens, calligraphic rubbings,\r\nmusic \u2014 provide the inspiration for Ouyang's mountain poetry. Chapters three and four\r\nturn from the \"cosmic\" level of mountains to the \"domestic\" world, to discover whether\r\nother everyday objects exert a similar effect on his imagination. Chapter three deals with\r\nactivities: poems on tea and wine drinking; eating; sleeping; music and calligraphy. These\r\nworks tend to jump back and forth between the mundane and the transcendent, as Ouyang\r\ntraces each subject to its source in the natural world. Chapter four treats the buildings,\r\ngardens, pets and plants in Ouyang's immediate environment. Techniques of caricature\r\nand witty argumentation increasingly appear in his mature verse.\r\nWater is a central figure in Ouyang's mountain poems. Chapter five reverts to the\r\n\"cosmic\" level to discuss Ouyang's poetry on water in its many transformations: storms,\r\nsnow, reflected moonlight, rivers and the ocean. In his mature works, Ouyang increasingly\r\nmixes levels of discourse \u2014 prosaic and lyrical, pure and crude \u2014 to indicate the\r\ncomplexity of human reaction to outside events.\r\nThe concluding chapter summarizes the evolution of Ouyang's poetic style. I\r\ndefine wit, noting its centrality in the English poetic tradition. I carefully analyse Ouyang's\r\nrecorded comments on poetry: he constantly advocates breadth and variety of mood and\r\nsubject matter, including even laughter and joking, crudity and baseness. I suggest possible\r\ninfluences on his style, especially Mid-Tang poets like Han Yu and Bai Juyi, and his own\r\ncontemporary, Mei Yaochen. Finally, I yoke together the concept of wit and Ouyang's\r\nphrase \"competing with Creative Transformation\": like the English witty poets, Ouyang\r\ntransforms harsh realities into ingenious artistic structures, and finds vitality in the midst of\r\nsuffering and destruction.","type":"literal","lang":"en"}],"http:\/\/www.europeana.eu\/schemas\/edm\/aggregatedCHO":[{"value":"https:\/\/circle.library.ubc.ca\/rest\/handle\/2429\/6639?expand=metadata","type":"literal","lang":"en"}],"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/extent":[{"value":"20524809 bytes","type":"literal","lang":"en"}],"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/elements\/1.1\/format":[{"value":"application\/pdf","type":"literal","lang":"en"}],"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2009\/08\/skos-reference\/skos.html#note":[{"value":"COMPETING WITH CREATIVE TRANSFORMATION: THE POETRY OF OUYANG XIU (1007-1072) by COLIN S C . HAWES B.A, University of Durham, U K , 1990 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE F A C U L T Y OF G R A D U A T E STUDIES Department of Asian Studies University of British Columbia We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH C O L U M B I A November, 1996 \u00a9Colin Hawes, 1996 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. 1 further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of flSlArJ SjUJ)l&S The University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada DE-6 (2\/88) ABSTRACT A detailed study of the poetry (shi R#) of Ouyang Xiu (1007-1072). Though Ouyang Xiu was one of the major cultural figures of the northern Song period (960-1126), later generations have rather neglected his poetry. After a brief introduction explaining this neglect, my study begins with a biographical sketch, outlining Ouyang's public career and concentrating on events that may have shaped his development as a poet. Chapter two deals with Ouyang's poems on mountains, one of his most favoured topics. I describe three kinds of mountain poems: dynamic, forceful works; tranquil works; and those which compare different kinds of mountains in an intellectual manner. Frequently domestic or cultural objects \u2014 stone screens, calligraphic rubbings, music \u2014 provide the inspiration for Ouyang's mountain poetry. Chapters three and four turn from the \"cosmic\" level of mountains to the \"domestic\" world, to discover whether other everyday objects exert a similar effect on his imagination. Chapter three deals with activities: poems on tea and wine drinking; eating; sleeping; music and calligraphy. These works tend to jump back and forth between the mundane and the transcendent, as Ouyang traces each subject to its source in the natural world. Chapter four treats the buildings, gardens, pets and plants in Ouyang's immediate environment. Techniques of caricature and witty argumentation increasingly appear in his mature verse. Water is a central figure in Ouyang's mountain poems. Chapter five reverts to the \"cosmic\" level to discuss Ouyang's poetry on water in its many transformations: storms, snow, reflected moonlight, rivers and the ocean. In his mature works, Ouyang increasingly mixes levels of discourse \u2014 prosaic and lyrical, pure and crude \u2014 to indicate the complexity of human reaction to outside events. The concluding chapter summarizes the evolution of Ouyang's poetic style. I define wit, noting its centrality in the English poetic tradition. I carefully analyse Ouyang's recorded comments on poetry: he constantly advocates breadth and variety of mood and subject matter, including even laughter and joking, crudity and baseness. I suggest possible influences on his style, especially Mid-Tang poets like Han Y u and Bai Juyi, and his own contemporary, Mei Yaochen. Finally, I yoke together the concept of wit and Ouyang's phrase \"competing with Creative Transformation\": like the English witty poets, Ouyang transforms harsh realities into ingenious artistic structures, and finds vitality in the midst of suffering and destruction. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Table of Contents iv Acknowledgement V INTRODUCTION 1 Chapter One Biographical Sketch 8 Chapter Two Dynamic, Tranquil, Intellectual: Poems on Mountains 53 Dynamic Mountains 56 Tranquil Mountains 83 Mountain Comparisons: Influence of the Intellect 97 Chapter Three Everyday and Cultural Activities 115 Drinking Tea and Wine 116 Food 144 Sleep 161 Musical Performance 166 Writing Tools and Equipment 173 Chapter Four Everyday Environment: Buildings, Gardens, Creatures, Plants 185 White Animals and Birds: Poems from the 1050s 212 Plants and Trees 235 Chapter Five Transforming Water 258 Rain and Storms 259 Snow 277 The Moon 292 Rivers and the Sea 301 Conclusion Ouyang Xiu, Style and the Tradition of Wit 321 A Definition of Wit 321 Ouyang Xiu on Poetry 332 The Classic of Poetry 336 The \"Remarks on Poetry\" 342 The Necessity of Poetry 351 Incongruous Juxtaposition and Caricature 359 The Development of Ouyang's Poetic Style 370 The Mature Style of the 1050s and 1060s 385 Ouyang Xiu and Wit? 388 Works Consulted 392 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to express my gratitude to all the members of my dissertation committee. Prof. J.D. Schmidt, my supervisor, first encouraged me to concentrate on the poetry of the Song dynasty; his stimulating seminars and research on wit in southern Song poetry have greatly influenced the ideas in this dissertation, and he has suggested many corrections to my translations. Prof. Dan Overmyer also offered much encouragement, guiding my reading in the area of Tang-Song thought and providing a living example of a conscientious scholar. Prof. Michael Duke was helpful beyond the call of duty, giving excellent suggestions on English style, format and translation, and guiding me in the study of traditional Chinese poetics. Without his assistance, my dissertation would look a great deal more ragged than it does. I would also like to acknowledge the encouragement of the other members of my examining committee, Prof. Graham Good (English) and Prof. George McWhirter (Creative Writing). In the wider university community, I greatly appreciated the help of Linda Joe (Librarian), Yim Tse (Chinese Librarian), and the other staff at the excellent Asian Library, UBC, where I worked as a part-time assistant during my studies. Also, I am very grateful to the Faculty of Graduate Studies, UBC, without whose generous fellowships I would not have been able to survive as a student. v Introduction The neglect of Ouyang Xiu's poetry began early. Even by the 13th century, the well-known Jin dynasty poet and literary critic, Yuan Haowen (1190-1257) was lamenting: \" A l l the figures of the Yuanyou period come to the fore in succession . . .\/But for what crime are Ou[yang Xiu] and Mei [Yaochen] discarded?\"1 The Yuanyou period (1086-1093) had seen the rise to prominence of the group of literati around Su Shi (1037-1101), after most had experienced several years of disgrace and exile.2 Su was exiled again during the 1090s, and after his death was placed on a \"black list,\" along with many former colleagues and supporters. Their writings were banned for several years.3 Yet, as Yuan Haowen notes, only a century or so later their reputations were already firmly established as literary masters. Though his writings were never actually banned, Ouyang Xiu's reputation as a shi i f poet went into decline almost as soon as Su Shi matured, and has still not revived. 1 Quoted in J.T. Wixted, Poems on Poetry: Literary Criticism by Yuan Haowen (1190-1257) (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1982) 203, with discussion on 203-207.1 have slightly changed Wixted's translation. Mei Yaochen (1002-1060) was Ouyang's close friend and well-known poet. 2 For the background to the exiles of this period and the 1090s, see Ronald Egan, Word, Image, and Deed in the Life of Su Shi (Harvard 1994) 46-53; 86-105. Hereafter referred to as Egan, Su Shi. 3 Though, as Egan notes, this ban was probably not enforceable in Su's case, due to the popularity of his writing. Egan, Su Shi 105-106. 1 Ouyang is known variously as a prose writer, classical scholar, historian and epigrapher, even as a statesman, but rarely as a poet. The Qing dynasty (1644-1911) revival of interest in Song dynasty poetry did see the publication of excellent anthologies, including generous selections of Ouyang's most interesting works,4 but no commentary survives on his poetry and more recent studies are few and far between. I have come across just one annotated anthology that includes more than a handful of his poems \u2014 Chen Xin and Du Weimo's excellent Ouyang Xiu xuanji (Shanghai: 1986) \u2014 and in English there are only brief chapters in Egan, James T.C. Liu, and Yoshikawa.5 There are several possible reasons for this neglect, including the following: (1) Ouyang's very success in so many other areas, coupled with his frequent denigration of his own poetic talents, led to the traditional view of him as a prose writer, in contrast to the poets Mei Yaochen and Su Shunqin (1008-1048), upon whom he constantly showered praise.6 (2) Traditionally, scholars have treated Ouyang as a forerunner to the so-called neo-Confucians, whose followers considered poetry a frivolous exercise, distracting 4 For example, Lu Liuliang [Qing] et al, Songshi chao (Shanghai: Shangwu, 1935) 1.279-352. 5 Ronald Egan, The Literary Works ofOu-yang Hsiu (1007-1072) (Cambridge, 1984) chap.3; hereafter referred to as Egan. James T.C. Liu, Ou-yang Hsiu (Stanford, 1967) chap. 10; Yoshikawa Kojiro, trans. Burton Watson, An Introduction to Sung Poetry (Harvard, 1967, repr. 1969) chap.3, 60-72; hereafter referred to as Yoshikawa. However, Yoshikawa praises Ouyang's poetry quite highly: see below. 6 Certainly Mei has fared better in recent years, with a book-length study on his poetry by Jonathan Chaves, Mei Yao-ch'en and the Development of Early Sung Poetry (Columbia, 1976), and a number of modern annotated anthologies, for instance, Zhu Dongrun, Mei Yaochen shixuan (Beijing: Renmin wenxue, 1980). Su Shunqin is still rather neglected, especially in the West; though see my chapter 4, n.5 for an excellent annotated Chinese edition of his complete works. 2 people from moral self-cultivation.7 Many of Ouyang's general comments about writing emphasize the centrality of the Way (dao $t) as promulgated in the Confucian Classics; and since his poetry is seldom openly moralistic, the assumption has been that it contradicts his more \"serious\" writings \u2014 memorials, histories and classical scholarship.8 I will show that poetry, because of its very tendency to dwell on \"trivial\" subjects and moods neglected by other genres, fulfilled a crucial function in Ouyang's life, and helps to round out our picture of his brilliant and humane personality. (3) Perhaps the general character of the poetry by Ouyang and some of his contemporaries has prevented its widespread acceptance: the plain, even prosaic, style; the serious consideration of oddity and ugliness alongside beauty; and even the wit and intellectual humour of many of his poems seem at first to remove them from the realm of lyrical intensity usually associated with, for example, Tang dynasty poetry.9 However, I would prefer to regard Ouyang's style as different rather than inferior. The fact that Yoshikawa sees Ouyang as the major initiator of a distinctive Song dynasty style and mood, and that apart from Mei Yaochen, he was the most prolific of the poets in his generation, hint that further study is necessary; a reading of his poems proves that there is a wealth of material on which to base that study. 7 Both Liu and Egan seem influenced by this view to a certain degree. 8 See Egan's translation of one such comment on writing by Ouyang. Egan 22. 9 Probably the reason that Ouyang's \"lyrics\" (ci W\\) have been studied much more frequently is connected with their use of more traditional imagery and more \"poetic\" themes of separation, love, and natural and female beauty. See studies by James J. Y . Liu, Major Lyricists of the Northern Sung (Princeton 1974) 17-53; and Egan, chapter 5, in English; also the complete modern annotated collection of Ouyang's lyrics in Chinese with introduction: L i X i , Ouyang Xiu ci yanjiu jiqijiaozhu (Taipei, 1982). For this reason I do not deal with Ouyang's lyrics in this dissertation. 3 The basic purpose of this dissertation is therefore to make available to the English reader a significant number of Ouyang Xiu's poems, the great majority never translated previously, and to analyse in a sympathetic light the various techniques that he developed to express his distinctive vision. I begin with a biographical sketch, which will place Ouyang's life within the context of northern Song society, and describe the effects of the people he met, and the various stages in his very public career, on his literary development. Following this biography, the four central chapters will turn to translation and analysis of his major poems. Reading these poems, one is struck by Ouyang's breadth of interest and curiosity with the manifold aspects of the universe. My aim is to suggest this \"encyclopedic\" variety through division into broadly related topics rather than chronological periods. Another feature common to Ouyang's poems is their carefully organized complexity of structure, including antitheses, incongruous juxtapositions, and mixed levels of discourse within single overarching patterns. I have attempted to emulate this feature by arranging my study according to two juxtapositions of my own. First, there is the very ancient complementary relation on the \"cosmic\" level between mountains and waters. Since these are two of Ouyang's favourite poetic topics, I have devoted a chapter to each (chapters 2 and 5). However, it is clear that even when dealing with enormous and powerful natural phenomena, Ouyang rarely loses sight of everyday human concerns. Indeed, a great number of his poems specifically treat the objects, creatures and activities 4 of his ordinary life, providing a notable contrast to the elemental world of the landscape poetry. Hence, I have arranged a second juxtaposition between my two inner chapters (3 and 4), dealing with the activities and environment surrounding Ouyang's \"domestic\" existence, and the outer chapters (2 and 5) dealing with \"cosmic\" concerns. Yet rather than treating these separate categories as static entities, I would prefer to see them as stages on a constantly altering cycle. Ouyang's mountain poems, for instance, are frequently inspired by an evocatively formed inkstone, calligraphic inscription, screen, or some other domestic accoutrement. Likewise, his works on tea, clams or other mundane objects tend to draw the reader away to an enormous imaginative landscape or swelling ocean environment, where the particular object supposedly originated. A third juxtaposition, which is not exactly a separate topic but pervades the great majority of Ouyang's mature poems, is that between Ouyang himself, as poet-narrator or autobiographical persona, and the content of each specific poem. As I will demonstrate particularly in chapter 4, and again in the concluding chapter, Ouyang developed the art of self-caricature to a high degree. Thus, especially after middle age, he tends to place himself within his poems as a comical character or intrusive narrator commenting on the events he describes, or arguing in an obviously parodic manner. Though he often depicts himself in exaggerated form, suffering all the pain and inconvenience that accompany old age, we are always aware of his ability to find laughter and reasons for joy in the midst of these difficulties. And in the end it is the strength and determination that Ouyang as implied author displays, standing against the destructive powers of nature and drawing 5 inspiration from the creative side of nature, which impress us more than the ridiculous caricatures that he hides behind. In my concluding chapter, I draw out some of the general characteristics of Ouyang's style and suggest some of the precursors to his various techniques. The recurrence of ingenious juxtapositions, incongruous mixing of levels, and clever, humorous arguments and caricature add up to what one might term a \"witty\" approach. I offer an extended definition of wit as exemplified by two English poets, John Donne and Alexander Pope. Next I consider Ouyang's own comments on poetry. Though he prefers not to subsume his various techniques under a single term, his idea of \"competing with the ingenuity of Creative Transformation\" shows parallels with the concept of wit in the English tradition. Likewise, in his other comments on poetry, he stresses the importance of breadth of interest, even including laughter and humour as valid concerns, and places himself within a \"witty\" tradition stretching back to Han Y u (768-824) and other Mid-Tang poets, and ultimately to the Classic of Poetry (Shying M). Hence I conclude that characterizing Ouyang Xiu as a poet whose wit helps to overcome the pain and restrictions of existence, and reading his works in that light, should aid in restoring his reputation as one of the masters of Song dynasty, and Chinese, poetry. Regarding the details of translation, I have not attempted to retain Ouyang's rhyme-schemes, though I point out several times his skill in the use of rhyme. Wherever possible I have retained the original sentence order; and have endeavoured to give one English stress for each syllable in the Chinese, in order to suggest the flavour of Ouyang's 6 poetic metres. Al l proper names are transliterated using pinyin, except those in titles of books by other Western scholars and quotations from those books. All translations from Chinese texts are my own except where otherwise indicated in the notes. For dates, I give the year according to the equivalent in the modern Western calendar, but retain the month and day in the Chinese original. There is usually about one month discrepancy between the Chinese and Western months: for instance, \"third month\" (sanyue H M ) would be approximately April according to the Western calendar. I provide information about Ouyang's collected works and the edition that I use on page 8, note 1 below, and page 52, main text and notes. 7 Chapter 1: Biographical Sketch of Ouyang Xiu Hfc H f# (1007-1072) With several works already published on Ouyang Xiu's public life and writings,1 I will avoid repetition by concentrating on events which noticeably affected the form and content of his literary oeuvre, particularly his shi pff poetry. Ouyang Xiu (style name Yongshu 7JC Mi) was born in 1007 at Mianzhou l r | 'M (around present Mianyang County, Sichuan Province), where his father Ouyang Guan it HI i l held a minor military administrative post. Three years later, Ouyang Guan died at Taizhou ;Jt| (present Tai County, Jiangsu Province) and his wife, Madame Zheng HP 1 There are several biographies available for Ouyang Xiu, including primary sources, such as the \"Record of Events\" by Ouyang's son Fa #,and other Northern Song sources, including biographies in the Veritable Records (shilu $$.) of Emperor Shenzong (r. 1068-1085), all conveniently appended to Ouyang Xiu's collected works, the Ouyang Yongshu ji it PJ\u00a7 T]C M. M (Shanghai: Guoxuejiben congshu edition 1958) vol.3, 18.1-18.72, where 18 refers to the ce ffl (\"part\") and the number after the decimal to the page; also the \"Chronological List\" (nianpu ^ It) by Hu Ke i $ fBf, dated 1196, in ibid., after contents pages; and the biography in the Official Song History by Tuo Tuo, Song shi (Beijing: Zhonghua 1977) chapter 319, 10375-10382. Much useful material can also be found in Ouyang's own prose and poetic writings, especially regarding his personal life. Many modern scholars have written on his life too, for instance, Lin Y i in Song Ouyang Wenzhong gong Xiu nianpu (Taiwan: Shangwu 1980), and Liu Ruoyu in Ouyang Xiuyanjiu (Taiwan: Shangwu 1989). Also very useful is the brief chronology in Ouyang Xiu xuanji, ed. Du Weimo and Chen Xin (Shanghai 1986) 425-448, and their notes to several hundred poems and prose works by Ouyang (this work will hereafter be referred to as Xuanji). Finally, there are two English studies of Ouyang Xiu containing some biographical material, those of Egan, op.cit. and James T.C. Liu, op.cit. Though their concerns are more general than mine, concentrating on Ouyang's whole literary corpus and his political-philosophical aspects respectively, they help to provide a framework for my investigation of Ouyang's poetry. 8 R , took Ouyang Xiu to Suizhou '}[\\ (present Sui County, Hubei Province) where they stayed with his paternal uncle Ouyang Ye ifc 8\u00a7 fi$L The most obvious effect of this bereavement was poverty \u2014 one story relates that Madame Zheng taught Ouyang Chinese characters by writing on the ground with a piece of firewood.2 Much later, in the \"Preface to Paintings of the Seven Worthies,\"3 written in 1053, Ouyang recalled their difficult situation, which was in large part the result of his father's irresponsible behaviour. The work is worth quoting in full for its candid account of family life, and the obvious respect Ouyang has for his mother's great fortitude and capability:4 I was unfortunate enough to be orphaned when young. I was born when my late father was assistant of military affairs at Mianzhou, but when I was just four years old, my father passed away. When I was a child, my late mother once said to me: \"When I married into your family, we were extremely poor. As an official, your father was very correct and wasn't attracted by material things. His only delight was in inviting guests, and he would lavish wine and food upon them without considering whether we could afford it. In three years at Mianzhou, other people without exception 2 Ouyang's son Fa implies that by this method and through rote memorization, Ouyang learned many works by ancient prose writers and was soon able to compose poems too! See the \"Record of Events\" by Ouyang Fa, at the back of Ouyang Yongshuji, vol.3, 18.57 (this collection will be referred to as Ji). 3 In Ji vol.2, 8.36. Also translated in Egan 218-219. 4 1 interpret this passage as a rather critical portrait by Ouyang Xiu of his father. My evaluation is mainly based on Ouyang's use of the phrase \"even poorer\" to describe his family's situation when he was ten years old \u2014 implying that they were poor before that time, and that the cause was his father's tendency to spend money on entertaining guests rather than accumulating property which could be sold at a later date. However, it is also feasible to treat Ouyang's comments as neutral reflections on the family's unlucky plight, with no moral judgment directed against his father. 9 purchased many products of Shu 5 to take back home, but your father didn't collect a single thing; instead, he spent his income on receiving guests, so that there was nothing to spare. Upon resigning his post, he had a single bolt of silk painted with six illustrations of the Seven Worthies.6 I have great affection for these seven gentlemen.7 Apart from that, we have no other objects from Shu.\" Afterwards, my late father was transferred to become Magistrate of Military Affairs in Taizhou, where he died at his post. By the time I reached ten years or so, our family was even poorer. Every New Year, when we arranged the seats for the offering [to our ancestors], we would open up these illustrations on the wall. My late mother would be sure to point them out to me, saying: \"They are our family heirlooms!\" Over thirty years later, the illustrations were even older and dingier. When I had the honour of serving at Court, I was afraid that after such a long time they would become increasingly decayed and damaged, so I took the \"Seven Worthies\" and told an artisan to mount them on scrolls, so that they could be passed down for another century or more. I felt that such an old possession of the Ouyang Clan would also encourage my children and grandchildren not to forget the \"pure breeze\" of earlier generations, and would demonstrate what my respected father considered important. At the same time, it would show how my mother, widowed young with a small 5 Shu It) was the name of the region (around present Sichuan Province) to which Mianzhou belonged. 6 Probably the Seven Worthies (or Sages) of the Bamboo Grove (zhulin qixian f t # \"fa If), a group of literati friends who lived during the Jin dynasty (265-420), and would gather occasionally for refined conversation and wine drinking. 7 It is possible that in this sentence Ouyang's mother is recalling her husband's words, otherwise it sounds a little odd for her to display such affection for these \"gentlemen,\" even if they are painted representations. 10 child, was yet able successfully to raise her family, without losing this old possession. About twenty years after my respected father passed away, I was first successful in the civil service examination; and since then another twenty three years have gone by. The events happened in this way, but only now have I managed to compose a eulogy and preface about them. Later in his childhood, Ouyang Xiu would often visit a certain Mr. L i south of Suizhou town, to read books his family could not afford. In 1016 he discovered a battered collection of the Tang statesman Han Yu's writings there, and begged (successfully) to keep it. 8 As Egan and others have shown, Han Yu, who was not a popular model for earlier Song writers, exerted a formative stylistic influence on both Ouyang's prose and poetry.9 Less tangible, perhaps, was the effect of poverty which made every book, even every poem or prose passage, seem extremely precious.10 In fact, Ouyang's son suggests that his father's remarkable memory and scholarly habits developed very early, as a result of having to return most books that he borrowed. He would copy down passages from these books, \"forgetting to sleep and eat,\" and before he had finished copying each passage, he would already be able to recite i t . 1 1 8 See Ouyang's account of this discovery in Ji yol.2, 9.17: \"Recorded at the Back of an Old Edition of Han [Yu]'s Writings.\" Partially translated in Egan 14. 9 Egan 14, 20; and regarding poetry, 95-97; 104-6. Egan also points out in these pages that Ouyang's attitude towards Han Y u was not an uncritical one, particularly with regard to Han's strangeness and pessimism. Cf. Yoshikawa 64. 1 0 After all, Han Yu's works, though great, are not the normal reading fare one would associate with young boys, even scholarly ones. And Ouyang himself admitted that at this early stage he didn't understand much of what Han was discussing, but was simply convinced that his style was \"expansive and boundless\" (to f& M 'M haoran wuya). See Ji vol.2, 9.17. 1 1 See Ji vol.3, 18.57. 11 Ouyang was doubtless aware of the opportunities open to those who studied conscientiously. As one of his late poems from 1061 expresses i t : 1 2 I think of the past, when I first followed a teacher; Studying hard, I hoped for official appointment; I did not dare pursue fame and reputation, Al l I expected was to escape poverty and baseness; \"Forgetting to eat,\" day would approach evening, \"Burning firewood,\" night encroached on the dawn; 1 3 I claimed that after attaining my ambition, I'd be able to burn my brushes and inkstone; And to make up a little for my times of hardship, I would only concentrate on sleeping and eating! After several years of such study, Ouyang attempted the prefectural examination in Suizhou in 1023, failing due to incorrect use of rhyme in the rhyme-prose (%$>ju) portion of the exam.1 4 Ouyang Xiu later enjoyed composing poems with ingenious rhyme schemes, along with irregular metres and unusual content,15 and this examination is 1 2 From \"Book-reading,\" W. # in Ji vol.1, 2.62-63; also mXuanji 197-8. 1 3 The sayings in these two lines both refer to conscientious study. 1 4 See the \"Chronological List\" by Hu Ke, in Ji vol.1, nianpu 1.3. Hereafter referred to as nianpu. Incidentally the contents pages of Ouyang's collection are numbered from 1.1; they are followed by the nianpu also numbered from 1.1. Following this is the original preface (Jushiji xu Jgj dr Ff) by Su Shi (1037-1101), again numbered from 1.1. Finally, the collection itself begins from 1.1 as explained above. To distinguish these identically numbered sections, I will add mulu for the contents section, nianpu for the chronological record, and Jushiji xu for Su's preface. 1 5 See for instance the \"Song on a Stone Screen of Scholar Wu\" (Wu Xueshi shipingge ^ Jp: -\u00b1 ft Jj|i jffc) whose rhyme alters dramatically with the shifts of subject matter within the poem, and whose lines vary from 7 to 15 syllables. Original text in Ji vol. 1, 2.24-25.1 translate and discuss this work in the following chapter. 12 probably the first record of his lifelong attempt to break down the barriers of literary convention. For the moment, however, he toed the line, passing the prefectural examination in 1026, and subsequently the examination of the Ministry of Rites (|H P $ libu) in the capital Kaifeng at the second attempt in 1030, having become a protege of the scholar X u Yan ^ -fH two years earlier.16 In fact, from 1029 to 1030 Ouyang sat three examinations related to the central civil service, and placed first in all of them.1 7 As a result of his success, in the fifth month of 1030, a great change occurred in his life when the central government posted him to Luoyang (present Henan province), then called the Western Capital, to become a judge under the metropolitan governor Qian Weiyan tH M 977-1034). There are at least three major developments which stem from Ouyang's time in Luoyang. Firstly, he began to write in earnest, and along with several colleagues such as Yin Shu (P j5jc 1001-1047) and Xie Jiang ( i f & 995-1039), cultivated an unadorned prose style which later became a standard model for the majority of prose writers in pre-modern China. 1 8 From the beginning, his poetry also embodied many characteristics of his mature style, such as philosophical depth and an everyday, \"rough\" diction. For example, his 1 6 X u Yan was from Hanyang (present Hubei Province). Ouyang had failed the Ministry of Rites examination in 1027; the following year, he visited Xu and showed the scholar some of his writings. Xu considered them outstanding, inviting him to become a live-in student at Hanyang. Hence his dramatic improvement to become the top-ranked scholar in 1030 was probably the result of X u Yan's guidance. Those who passed the exam, were called Presented Scholars (jinshi jit dr). For these events, see Ji vol. 1, nianpu 1.3. 1 7 These were in the Directorate of Education, the National University and the afore-mentioned Ministry of Rites (ibid.). 1 8 For the influence of Yin Shu on Ouyang, see Ouyang Fa's comments in Ji vol.3, 18.57-58. For Xie Jiang, see Egan 25, and Jonathan Chaves, op.cit. 4. Ouyang Fa claims that the prose style developed by these men became the standard style within 40 years (op.cit. 18.58). 13 poem entitled \"Answering Yang Pi's Seven-Syllable Composition 'Praying for Rain ' \" 1 9 contains the following plain philosophical analysis of the rhythms of nature: \"I've heard that the forces of yin mdyang in Heaven and on the Earth,\/Rise and fall, above and below, never ceasing their motion.\/In their cycle they cannot avoid experiencing lacks and losses.\/As a result, at the year's end, the harvests are not always good.\" 2 0 Another member of Qian's entourage, the poet Mei Yaochen ($ | J=\u00a7 E 1002-1060), was extremely influential with regard to poetry, and became one of Ouyang's closest friends.21 Secondly, in Luoyang Ouyang and his large circle of like-minded friends, all talented literati, were able to indulge in many stimulating cultural and social activities. One of Ouyang's earliest sets of poems describes six of his literati friends at Luoyang, giving an impression of their broad interests, and concludes with an \"Autobiographical Sketch:\"2 2 By nature I am dissolute and unrestrained, And thus, as an official I am also dissolute. Don't I resemble a leather sack, 4 Laid on a cart, and led by the cart's wheels? The fashionable gents didn't cast a glance towards me, Left in solitude, I had no-one to talk to. But thankfully there are some young blades of Luoyang, 1 9 In.\/\/ vol.1, 6.41-42. For a full translation of the poem and explanation of the title, see chapter 5 below. 2 0 Yin and yang |# were considered since ancient times in China to represent opposing forces in the cosmos whose continuous interaction produced all phenomena in the universe. For further use of these terms by Ouyang, see especially chapter 4, section on birds and animals, below. 2 1 A very detailed study of Mei Yaochen is Chaves, op.cit. Yoshikawa Kqjiro also has a section on Mei, in Yoshikawa 72-79. Mei will reappear often during my discussion of Ouyang's poetry. 2 2 For the series, see Ji vol. 1, 6.50-51. Xuanji 3-4 also has the \"Autobiographical Sketch.\" Chaves, op.cit. 4-5, gives details on the six friends, who included Mei Yaochen, Yin Shu, Zhang Rushi, Yang Zicong, Zhang Taisu and Wang Yuan. 14 8 Who allow me daily to climb to their height. I drink in their virtues, and am \"intoxicated by fine wine,\" Wafting fragrance, they \"adorn me with spring orchids.\"2 3 Frequently, when finished with military missives, 12 We compose and drink wine, enjoying ourselves together. Apart from wine and good conversation, Ouyang's various other pastimes and interests were no doubt encouraged by this refined environment. For example, references to zither-playing, peony cultivation and tea-drinking occur in his writings of the early 1030s,24 to be joined later by other pursuits like antique and stone connoisseurship, calligraphy and collecting of ancient inscriptions 2 5 Ouyang's many poems on these themes, composed throughout his career, provide us with a unique glimpse into the 2 3 According to Xuanji 4, n.3, both the phrases in this couplet imply receiving blessings by one's association with those of great moral worth. 2 4 \"Zither\" refers to the qin a long, rectangular seven-stringed instrument which was placed horizontally on a table, and the strings plucked with a plectrum. For a poem describing zither music from c. 1033, see \"On the River, Playing the Zither\" (Jiangshang tan qin tL _h W W ) inJi vol.1, 6.47. For peonies, see Ouyang's prose piece of 1034, \"Record of Luoyang Peonies\" (Luoyang mudan ji #r |# \u00a3fc fl- H ) in Ji vol.2, 9.2-9, and my discussion of this work and several peony poems in chapter 4 below. For tea, see a poem from 1031, \"Wisdom of the Moon Adept Travels to the Southern Peak\" in Ji vol. 1, 2.61, translated in chapter 3 below. 2 5 Ouyang composed two poems in c.1037 on an ancient tile crafted into an inkstone (Ji vol. 1, 6.57-58), one of which is translated in chapter 3 below, perhaps his first treatment of the antique theme. For stones, see especially chapter 2 below. Calligraphy seems to have been a later hobby, and not his forte, as he relates in a letter to Mei Yaochen of 1053: \" . . . [My technique] is like a boat sailing against the wind: having used up all my strength and spirit, Fm still in the same place as before! . . .\" (Ji vol.3, 17.44). In the same letter, Ouyang also notes that he took up archery for a while, but made little progress in it (ibid.). His collected works contain a volume of \"Calligraphy Exercises\" (Shi bi jt^ ^ ) , Ji vol.3, 14.127-135, though only the content of the pieces, not his calligraphic style, survives there. He also wrote two poems entitled \"Practicing Calligraphy\" (Xue shu
): the reader can imagine it about to launch into another line. As we shall see, Ouyang Xiu enjoys creating new formal features, particularly in his mountain poems, in order better to encompass the power the subject exerts on his imagination. Though only a short work, \"Stone Bamboo Shoot\" also contains two other features typical of Ouyang's poetry. First, the poem exemplifies Ouyang's preference for extraordinary objects \u2014 here the rock masquerading as bamboo shoot. A quick glance through the titles of his collected poems will prove Ouyang's lifelong fascination with unusual natural occurrences, strange animals, ancient artifacts and the like. 3 Secondly, there is a sense of mystery about this object: it is constantly obscured by mists; only a careful observer, or an eagle, would become aware of its presence and \"jade-like hue.\" Ouyang also continually returns to this theme of the discovery of hidden treasure, or hidden precious objects, as I will demonstrate below. Later, in 1036, Ouyang Xiu was exiled to Yiling in Xiazhou (near present Yichang City, Hubei Province). There he encountered much more impressive mountain scenery, now famous as the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River. In fact, mountains were perhaps the only redeeming feature of this provincial backwater, as the following poem suggests: 3 This feature is noted by Ronald Egan. See Egan 99-112. 54 Sent to Mei Shengyu [1037].4 Green mountains everywhere I look, chaotic and endless, Chickens and dogs, thin and scraggy, in several hundred homes. By Chu customs, New Year involves many ghost exorcisms, 4 The Man locality dialect is foreign to Northern Chinese.5 Circling the town the river flows fast, boats have trouble mooring, Facing the county, mountains rise high, the sun readily slants down. Banging drums and stamping out songs, they set up the evening market, 8 Appealing to turtle[-shells], divining for rain, they hurry to burn the stubble. Through clumps of forest, in broad daylight, inauspicious birds fly, On hall terraces, out of season, unusual flowers appear Only the mountains and streams here are absolutely magnificent, 12 If sent off to someone, they'd certainly manage to boast of being a painting! After a brief period in the capital Kaifeng (1040-1045), Ouyang again fell foul of his superiors, and was exiled to Chuzhou (present Anhui Province). There, as I mentioned earlier, he received much poetic inspiration from the Langye Mountains, building his famous Drunken Old Man Pavilion on their slopes.6 Here, I will examine in greater detail some of Ouyang Xiu's major poems on the theme of mountains, written both in these periods of exile, and later in his career. It seems that, on the one hand, he valued the extraordinary, even freakish, climatic conditions, the 4 Ji vol. 1, 2.73-74. Dating for many of Ouyang's poems is given in the contents of Ji vol. 1, Mulu @\u00a3| , 1.1-136. 5 For Man and Chu, see biographical sketch, nn.47 and 48, p.21 above. 6 1 have referred to Ouyang's prose account describing this pavilion, \"Record of the Drunken Old Man Pavilion,\" and Egan's English translation, above pp.33-34, n.92. 55 weird-shaped cliffs and gullies, the massive waterfalls and unusual flora and fauna of the mountain environment. These aspects triggered his imagination and tested the limits of his expressive talents, resulting in poems as unusual as their subjects. I would term this a \"dynamic\" mountain influence, producing a visionary, transcendent experience. On the other hand, Ouyang also appreciated the tranquil depth of mountains \u2014 the soothing sounds of trickling streams; cool, fragrant forest air; escape from the struggles and worries of official life. This we might term the \"calming,\" or \"tranquil\" influence. Finally, I will mention Ouyang's tendency to compare the different kinds of mountains he has visited, noting their relative merits and demerits: what I would call an \"intellectual\" influence of mountains. Dynamic Mountains The poem which follows exemplifies dynamism to an almost unbelievable degree. It must rank among the most energetic farewell poems ever written. Lu Mountain High! Given to Fellow Student Liu Zhongyun on his Retirement to Nankang [1051].7 Lu Mountain, oh so high! Several million feet \u2014 Its base twists for several hundred miles, It towers up, rising sheer and prominent, beside the Yangtze River. 4 The Yangtze River, flowing from the west, rushes past its foot, Here it has formed Zuoli Lake, lifting its waves \u2014 Flooding waves, huge breakers, night and day clashing and pounding together. When clouds disperse, and wind ceases, the mirror of water is clear, 8 Mooring my boat I climb the bank and gaze at it from a distance \u2014 1 Ji vol. 1, 2.16. See also helpful notes in Xuanji 144-146. According to Xuanji, Liu Zhongyun, of the title, was the style-name of one Liu Huan. 56 Above, it scrapes the blue sky with its dark misty clouds, Below it crushes the huge vastness of the Deity of Earth. I will venture closer, entering into its midst \u2014 12 Climbing up to a rocky ledge, I glimpse the empty abyss: A thousand peaks, ten thousand valleys, echo with pine and juniper. From huge rocks overhanging the cliff a flying torrent gushes, The sound of water, crashing and dashing, brings chaos to my ears: 16 Flying snow in the middle of summer, splashing the stony bridge. And constantly I encounter immortal elders and sons of Sakyamuni8 \u2014 Once I despised them, following illusion and speaking words of nonsense; Yet now I see crimson clouds and azure cliffs, far and near, reflecting the halls and pavilions, 20 Morning bells and evening drums, deep and distant, with strings of flags and banners. Secluded flowers and wild grasses: I do not know their names \u2014 Blown in the wind, moistened by dew, their fragrance fills the canyon, And sometimes pairs of white cranes arrive here on the wing. 24 Though secluded searching takes me far, I cannot reach the end, Thus I intend to break from the world, and leave its confusion behind. I.e. Daoists, or recluses seeking immortality, and Buddhist monks. 57 I envy you, purchasing land and building a home to grow old at its foot, Transplanting rice shoots to fill the fields\u2014 28 Fermenting wine to fill the vats. You wished to make drifting alpine mists, and the warm azure of ten million forms Constantly face your terrace and windows, while you sit or recline. In your heart, many-faceted, there lies a priceless treasure,9 32 But the vulgar world cannot distinguish jade from coloured stones. Your name was listed as an officer for a period of twenty years, In dark robes,10 hair growing white, you were still confined to an outpost. You couldn't use base and servile means for favour and glory, fame and profit \u2014 36 And if it weren't that dark clouds and white rocks held such a profound attraction, What reason could your towering spirit find to descend [to this world]? How few men of strength and virtue there are to compare with you: Alas, I would like to express myself, but how can I find a mighty brush Doubtless it is works such as this which prompted Su Shi (1037-1101), Ouyang's illustrious protege, to compare his poetry to that of L i Bai (701-762).11 Certainly the first line is reminiscent of the opening of Li 's \"The Road to Shu is Hard.\" 1 2 However, the elemental power of the mountain is a cause not of suffering here, but of visionary elation. 9 \"Many-faceted,\" or \"with many joints,\" means one whose character has numerous talents, though literally refers to a tree having many knots in the trunk. See Xuanji 146, 1 0 \"Dark robes\" (qingshan W were worn by low-ranking officials. 1 1 See Su's preface to Ouyang's collection: Ji vol.1, Jushiji xu 1.2. 1 2 See Chinese text in Quan Tangshi (Zhonghua shuju 1960) 5.1680-1681 (juan 162). Hereafter referred to as QTS. English translation in Irving Lo and Liu Wu-chi, eds., Sunflower Splendor 104-106. standing as high as a flagpole! n.8. 58 At the same time, Ouyang's vision refuses to lose touch completely with reality, which distinguishes this work from L i Bai's other masterpiece \"Climbing Tianmu in a Dream, Chanting to Keep you from Leaving,\" 1 3 with its ranks of immortals, zither-strumming tigers and carriage-pulling phoenixes. The nearest we come to immortals in Ouyang's poem are the \"immortal old men\" (Daoists?) and Buddhist monks (line 17), whom he is quick to dismiss as bearers of \"words of nonsense.\" Examining the structure more closely, there is a logical progression behind the profusion of images and impressions; likewise, analysing the metre, we discover a basic seven syllable-per-line pulse around which the more extravagantly irregular lines dance. This reference to a poetic metre distinguishes \"Lu Mountain High\" from the rhyme-prose (fu \u00ae ) of later-Han and Wei-Jin writers,1 4 in spite of Ouyang's use of the archaic pause word xi and some unusual forms of characters. Moreover, the irregular metrical episodes have a close relation with the content expressed, as will emerge during my analysis. Ouyang begins by viewing from a distance the enormous mass of the mountain, a million feet high, thirty miles across. It looms over the wild Yangtze River: immediately we notice the polarity of water and mountain beloved of early landscape poets like Xie Lingyun (385-433), here involving the longest river pounding against one of the most enormous ranges, a truly cosmic opposition of forces. 1 3 Chinese in QTS 5.1779-1780 (Juan 174). English version in Lo and Liu, op.cit. 106-108. Of course, L i Bai claims to see these visions in a dream, from which he wakes at the end in a cold sweat. 1 4 For instance, the Jiang fu fL M (\"Rhyme-prose on the River\") of Guo Pu (276-324), from which Ouyang seems to borrow some of his diction. See L i Shan, Pingzhu Zhaoming Wenxuan (Saoye Fangshan Press 1931) juan 3, 1-6. It is the shorter fu, often on natural objects, of later-Han and the Wei-Jin period to which I refer, rather than the enormous works by Sima Xiangru (c. 179-118 BC) and his followers. At the same time, the unusual characters that Ouyang uses as rhyme-words are mainly borrowed from Han Y u (768-824): see detailed discussion of this point in my concluding chapter below. 59 In a sudden change of weather, the waves subside \u2014 the metre also relaxes from irregularity to a more or less constant seven beats \u2014 allowing the poet to come closer (lines 7-11); he surveys the mountain from this position, scraping the sky above and crushing the Earth God below, then seeks to \"enter its midst.\" It is surprising at first that Ouyang uses this expression \u2014 he is not aiming for the mountain summit but for its heart, its depth. The next nine lines (12-20) graphically describe this journey: in line 12 he climbs onto a rocky outcrop, and line 13 is his pause there to view the panorama and listen to the wind: \" A thousand peaks, ten thousand valleys, echo with pine and juniper.\" Continuing, he sees a waterfall descending from a precipice, probably overhanging the path since in line 15 he passes right beside it: \"The sound of water crashing and dashing brings chaos to my ears.\" The cold, white spray, \"flying snow in the middle of summer,\" adds to the confusion; time begins to lose its reference in the mountains as this mix of seasons indicates; and the poem's metre correspondingly loses its consistency again.15 Monks and Daoists appear, their bannered temples mingled with the clouds and cliffs, their bells and drums \u2014 perhaps morning, perhaps evening \u2014 sound in the distance. Finally, going beyond all the noise and crowds of the mountain's \"surface,\" Ouyang discovers a tranquil scene of unknown wild flowers in a fragrant, dew-covered valley; the metre returns to seven-syllable regularity; cranes, those typically reclusive birds, feel at home here. Though deep within the mountain, Ouyang has still not \"reached the end\" \u2014 only cutting himself off from the world would achieve that. Hence his admiration for Liu Huan, to whom the poem is addressed, and who has purchased land and built a home to retire at the foot of Lu Mountain! From line 26, where Liu appears, until the conclusion, Ouyang's hyperbolic description of the mountain overflows into a similar portrait of his friend. Once again, as in the first poem above, we meet the hidden treasure motif: this time a person, Liu, becomes 1 5 Lines 17-20 range from 9 to 11 syllables. 60 a valuable \"jade\" unnoticed by the world. The comparison with jade in this context suggests that Liu is a precious vein of jade in the mountain, an implication which is strengthened by the witty progression of lines 33 and 35: Liu has languished for twenty years in a minor position, wearing the \"dark shirt\" of a low-ranking official until he is \"white-haired\" (qingshan baishou W # Fi T\u00a7\"). He would not bend himself for worldly privileges; only the profound attraction of \"dark clouds\" and \"white rocks\" (qingyun baishi ^ 9 Fi 5) will provide a resting place for his spirit. The man has figuratively been transformed into the mountain, therefore the same adjectives and an equally expansive metre apply to both. Though obviously complimentary in intent, the poem avoids descending into mere fulsome flattery through its remarkably vivid landscape evocation \u2014 the journey into the mountain \u2014 and touches of humour. The final couplet supports this impression as Ouyang searches for a brush large enough to express his admiration: probably an old joke even in the Song dynasty. Mei Yaochen (1002-1060), Ouyang's lifelong friend, recorded his impressions of this work in a poem \"Matching the Rhymes of Secretary Guo Xiangzheng's 'Moved When Spending the Night at Brightness Pavilion After Meeting Rain',\" which contains the lines: \"Reciting 'Lu Mountain High,'\/Ten thousand scenes cannot conceal themselves.\"16 An anecdote provides some context for Mei's comments. Gongfu was Guo Xiangzheng's style name:17 When Guo Gongfu was young, he liked to recite Duke Wenzhong's [Ouyang Xiu's] poems. One day he visited Mei Shengyu, who said: \"Recently I got a letter from Yongshu [Ouyang Xiu]; he has just written 'Lu 1 6 For Mei's poem, dated to 1054, see Zhu Dongrun, ed., Mei Yaochen ji biannian jiaozhu (Shanghai 1980) vol.3, 756-757. 1 7 Attached to ibid. Also quoted in Xuanji 145. 61 Mountain High' and he is quite satisfied with it. I regret that I haven't seen this poem. Gongfu recited it for him. Shengyu beat the rhythm, sighing in appreciation, and said: \"Even if I were to write poems for another thirty years, I couldn't manage to compose a single line like this.\" Gongfu recited it again, and couldn't help becoming elated, so they laid out wine and recited it again. The wine went round several times, they both recited it several dozen times, then concluded the meeting without further conversation. The next day, Shengyu presented a poem to Gongfu . . . Notwithstanding Mei's excitement, Ouyang Xiu rarely composed poems with such shocking metrical irregularity and archaic diction. 1 8 \"Lu Mountain High\" is an extreme, though brilliant, example of his dynamic approach to mountains. The extended comparison between a person and a mountain, for moral purposes, is also quite rare in his poetry. I have only found one other work, referring to the uncompromising Classics scholar Shi Jie (1005-1045) which briefly compares him to Mount Culai (present Shandong Province) where he taught.19 What is extremely common in Ouyang's other mountain poems is firstly the use of imagination to imbue the scene with an almost spiritual depth.20 I have noted this feature 1 8 Though he often uses irregular metres to a lesser degree, as in several of the poems below. 1 9 In the poem \"Reading Culai's Collection\" (Ji vol. 1, 1.25) whose first four lines are: \"Culai is the Eastern Mountain of Lu,\/Master Shi lives on the mountain slopes.\/What the people of Lu observe\/Is the master and the mountain loftily raised high.\" Lu was the ancient name for the region around present Shandong Province. Shi Jie's nickname was also Master Culai. 2 0 Just how powerful is Ouyang's imaginative urge we can make out by his comments about Lu Mountain in another poem of 1041, \"Seeing Off Tan Ying Retiring to Lu Mountain\": . . . Anchoring the boat I gazed at Incense Burner Peak [on Lu Mountain], The Incense Burner amidst cloud and mist: Vague in the distance, as if there, yet not there. 62 above when discussing the mountain climb as an inward journey to a tranquil heart, and it is interesting that even such a boisterous poem reaches for stillness at its centre. Later I will provide further examples of the depth and soothing power of mountains. Secondly, there is the ability to discern and express the extraordinary in subjects which most observers would overlook. If, for instance, we consider the above poem from the perspective of a tribute to Liu \u2014 rather than as a landscape poem \u2014 we witness a minor official, albeit one of great integrity, being transformed into a character of earth-shaking significance. The majority of Ouyang's more dynamic treatments of the mountain theme fall into this second category, of discovery. A fine example is the following poem, beginning with a stone screen, then setting off on an imaginary journey to trace the prehistoric, mythical origins of the stone. Song of the Stone Screen of Scholar Wu [1056] 2 1 Morning light enters the forest, all the birds are startled, Beating their wings they fly in flocks, the crows cawing in disorder, Through the forest, they scatter everywhere, darting into the sky, 4 In their nests, fledgling chicks hungrily wait for the feed. Suddenly we met a clear autumn day, An azure kaleidoscope floating in emptiness. Truly, it was rare and exquisite: In a different class from Qian and Huo [two mountains near Lu Mountain]. I happened to be ill and could not go that time, I could only linger awhile in mid-current. In other words, it appears that Ouyang Xiu never climbed the mountain! Add to this the fact that \"Lu Mountain High\" was not composed until 1051, ten years later, and Ouyang's tendency to embellish his actual experience with imaginative flourishes becomes clear. See full text of poem in Ji vol.1, 1.10. Also in Xuanji 66-68. 2 1 Ji vol.1, 2.24-25. Also mXuanji 159. 63 Female birds swoop down to peck, male birds hover up high, Male and female call to each other, flying away then returning. Nobody comes to the empty forest; the birds' sounds are joyful, 8 Ancient trees touch the sky, their branches bent and coiled. Below, there is a strange stone, lying between the trunks, Buried in mist, covered by grass, and spotted with moss and lichen. You might inquire, \"Who was the one that illustrated this scene?\" 12 In point of fact, it is on a stone screen which belongs to the house of Wu! Craftsmen of Guo drilled the Mountain, taking the rocky bones,22 From morning to night they pierced and chopped; it took them many a day, Tens of thousands of forms appeared, all from within the stone. 161 sigh at peoples' ignorance: they cannot see the primordial suffering of Heaven and Earth's creation, Thus they say, \"The ten thousand things were born of natural causes.\" How would they know that in scoring, chiselling and carving the ugly and beautiful, A thousand forms, ten thousand aspects, could not be exhausted, 20 And gods grieved, ghosts wept, night and day unable to take their rest. Otherwise, how did they get what cunning craftsmen and skilful hands \u2014 wearying their spirits, exhausting their thoughts \u2014 could not attain: Visible, yet almost invisible, faintly rising, clouds of mist? The work of ghosts and gods completed, Heaven and Earth protected it, 24 They hid it within the deepest rocks beneath the mountains of Guo. Yet if only people have the will there's nothing they cannot obtain: Even though Heaven and Earth are divine, they could not manage to hide it. 2 2 Guo Mountain was in Guozhou, present Liishi County, Henan Province, then considered western China. 64 I also suspect that ghosts and gods, eager for victory, hated our kind, 28 They wished to exhaust the grotesque and rare, making our talents seem poor, Thus they dispatched one Master Zhang to travel here from the West. 2 3 Scholar of the house of Wu, you saw it and were delighted, With drunken dots of your violet-haired brush, you soaked it in charcoal-black ink. 32 With such talent, you're certainly able to battle with ghosts and gods, Woe is me! For I am old, and cannot compare with you. If \"Lu Mountain High\" gave a picture of a dynamic mountain environment with a tranquil heart, \"Song of the Stone Screen\" provides only, and almost incessantly, movement. This movement is not that of the dance either, but of pick and chisel excavating beauty from formlessness. The subject of the poem is a stone from Guo which bears a beautiful, subtly-coloured grain that resembles a misty landscape. Presumably there are also forest-like patches of green on the stone, inspiring the pastoral description in the first ten lines. As for the birds, male and female flying back and forth, and fledglings waiting in the nest, I would assume these to be Ouyang's imaginative extension, a practice which several other northern Song poets indulged in when writing about paintings.24 Such a lively scene, noisy with birdsong, gives Ouyang's surprize question and answer more bite (lines 11-15); we are shocked to find, first, that the scene is on an artifact belonging to the Wu family and, second, that the myriad forms on the stone occurred naturally, before it had been dug 2 3 An alternative title to the poem was \"Matching Master Zhang's Crow and Tree Screen,\" hence the references to Zhang in this line and to crows above. For \"the West,\" see the previous note. 2 4 Though see above, note 23, for suggestion that crow-like marks may also be on the stone. Ouyang gives another animated description of a painting in \"Picture of a Climbing Cart,\" discussed below. 65 out of the \"bones\" of Guo Mountain by workers! The reader is brought down with a bump from the soothing pastoral scene; the poem's diction likewise becomes abruptly more prosaic \u2014 for example, with the line \"in point of fact, it's on a stone screen which belongs to the house of Wu.\" Now, harsh words such as \"excavate,\" \"pierce\" and \"chop\" seem to slice up the lines into sharp-edged pieces. And to increase the sense of roughness in these five lines, the poem's original rhyme-scheme has apparently been put on hold. The former rhyme returns with a vengeance in lines 16-22 \u2014 all but one of these lines bears the same rhyme \u2014 and this factor prevents the reader becoming completely disoriented by the sudden emergence of a wildly irregular metre. Up to now, Ouyang has managed a constant seven syllables per line; the next few lines range from seven to fifteen syllables! Why this further jolt to our expectations? Anticipating a stock reaction to the poem so far \u2014 \"Oh, it's a natural stone, not a painting!\" \u2014 Ouyang overturns it with the blunt comment that people are ignorant, so \"they say 'the ten thousand things were born of natural causes'\" (line 17). In answer to this claim, Ouyang provides another ingenious example of wit: since beautiful artifacts require for their production the strenuous efforts of human craftsmen, the execution of such an \"exquisitely finished\" natural stone must, by inference, have demanded enormous exertions from ghosts and gods. Such spurious intellectual reasoning, used as a means of entertainment or humorous persuasion, is a common feature of Ouyang's poetry, and as I shall show in later chapters, resurfaces in many and varying guises. It is one of the ways in which he sustains interest over his numerous long poems with their relatively plain diction. Yet it is not only the content of lines 16-22 that demonstrates Ouyang's wit; the irregularity of the metre fits exactly with the events being described. Ghosts and gods are creating ten thousand forms, carving the beautiful and ugly out of primeval chaos: surely such a difficult process justifies the chaotic line length, especially since the metre immediately subsides into regularity at the words \"the work of ghosts and gods completed . . . \" Further justification for the two longest lines (16 and 21) is provided by their 66 respective content: the former deals with the problems of creation \u2014 \"I sigh at peoples' ignorance: they cannot see the primordial suffering of Heaven and Earth's creation\" \u2014 a long process given a suitably long line; the latter portrays the great physical and intellectual efforts of humans attempting to equal the standards of \"natural\" creation \u2014 \"Otherwise, how did they get what cunning craftsmen and skilful hands \u2014 wearying their spirits, exhausting their thoughts \u2014 could not attain?\" \u2014 the line stretches out, imitating the extended struggle. A final instance of the graphic use of line construction comes in line 22: [Literally] \"As if not there, as if there, indistinctly rising, clouds and mist.\" The first phrase ruowu ruoyou ^ M 4% would be sufficiently vague for most descriptions, but Ouyang draws out the line further with a rhyming binome piaomiao $ | (\"indistinct, faint\"), extending like a real tendril of mist. The rest of the poem proceeds with a more balanced, though still tongue-in-cheek, reasoning. Ouyang posits: either heaven and earth hid the stone within Guo Mountain, but peoples' curiosity was too strong to conceal it from them \u2014 the hidden treasure motif reappears here (lines 23-26); or, alternatively, in an age like the Northern Song when, Ouyang implies, strangeness is a prized attribute in the cultural sphere, the ghosts and gods wish to demonstrate how incomparably peculiar nature can be, thus proving the imaginative poverty of human beings (lines 27-28). Finally, Ouyang concludes once more with a protestation of his lack of energy and ability \u2014 \"I am old, and cannot compare with you\" \u2014 having completed another poetic tour-de-force. This poem is not a mountain poem as such; it takes an object encountered in a civilized setting (in a friend's house) and traces back to its mythical, primeval source at the heart of a mountain. With the poet, we take an imaginative journey to a world of dynamic power similar to that of \"Lu Mountain High.\" Here, however, Ouyang gives a clear, if playful, treatment of the distinction between or fusion of nature and artifice. A \"natural\" woodland scene turns out to be an imaginative extension of the grain in a naturally colourful stone; the stone is, however, painstakingly carved by supernatural beings as a 67 test for Ouyang's generation of artificers to imitate; Scholar Wu has imitated the stone perfectly in his poem \u2014 \"You are certainly able to battle with ghosts and gods\" \u2014 whereas Ouyang claims not to have managed it, after a remarkable attempt to do so. Clearly Ouyang is amazed by creative processes. Frequently we see him returning to the source of objects, seeking the original conjunction of forces which produced their creative spark. In another poem on a stone screen, this time a \"violet, moon-coloured stone,\" he spins a yarn about the stone gaining its translucent sheen from moonlight reflected on the sea; his friend tries to sell it to him for a thousand cash, claiming that when the moon is full, the stone will light up a dark room right to the eaves!25 Though metrically this is a more restrained, regular work than that above, it includes Ouyang's explanation of a relevant tendency in his character:26 . . . How great are Heaven and Earth and all in between! Their ten thousand wonders cannot be fully expressed. Alas! I cannot help going too far, Longing to probe the depths of every matter. I wish to take all that my two eyes and ears can perceive, And compete with Creative Transformation for every single hairtip! . . . In this case, Ouyang once again feels his talents are inadequate for the task, and passes the stone to his friend Su Shunqin (1008-1048) whose unbridled character can face the challenge undaunted. Thus we find Ouyang constantly struggling to find words for the spirit, vitality and sheer variety of the world; its creativity inspires his own creative urge and he is impelled to 2 5 \"Song of the Violet Stone Screen,\" composed in 1047, with the alternative title \"Song of the Moonstone Inkstone Screen, Sent to Su Zimei [Shunqin].\" In Ji vol.1, 2.3-4. This poem is translated in full in chapter 5 below, section on the Moon. 2 6 Ibid. 2.3, lines 23-28. 68 set his immense feelings into words. It is no surprize that he must often stretch ordinary forms of poetry to breaking-point in order to hint at such grandeur. With regard to mountains, although Ouyang certainly appreciates their enormous power and dynamism in itself, he tends to use the sentiments inspired by mountain imagery to indicate the hidden \"vastness\" of people (i.e. Liu Huan in \"Lu Mountain High\"), or more often objects (the stone screen). Rather than concluding that this method belittles the mountains, making them somewhat awkward guests in the studies of civilized scholars, I feel we should instead reverse the perspective. As a result, a minor official, or a single small object, even a stone, becomes a window into the enormity of the universe. The care with which Ouyang depicts mountain scenery also rebels against the idea that he is only using it as a stock image. Moreover, the witty manner with which he treats his subjects indicates that this is a universe to be enjoyed wherever possible. To illustrate further Ouyang's use of the associations of mountains with dynamism and creative cosmic forces, as a means to open up an object and fill it with imaginative resonance, I will refer to a few more poems. First, there is the \"Sealscript on Stone Poem\" of 1045, in which Ouyang highly praises a stele atop the Langye Mountains (then part of Chuzhou, his second place of exile) for its ancient-style calligraphic inscription.27 The calligraphy which formed the basis for the stele was that of a famous Mid-Tang calligrapher L i Yangbing (fl. late-750s), who in turn based his style on that of Qin statesman L i Si (d.208 BC). In fact, Ouyang only saw a rubbing of the stele brought to him by his monk friend Hui Jue, hence the mountain imagery again presumably emerges 2 7 Chinese text in Ji vol. 1, 6.69-70. Also in Xuanji 97. Chaves gives an English translation of this work, along with translations of the matching poems by Mei Yaochen and Su Shunqin. See Chaves, op.cit. 205-209. Another facet of Ouyang's character was his love of ancient inscriptions on bronze and stone. As I mentioned, his collection contains a famous annotated catalogue of such inscriptions, the Jigu lu (\"Record of Collecting Antiquities\"). See Ji vol. 3, 15.49-176 and 16.1-75. It is in poems like \"Seal-Script on Stone\" that we can begin to comprehend the inspiration Ouyang received from such inscriptions, and his motivation for collecting them. 69 from his imagination or memory, rather than from direct observation of the site. He considers that the writing cannot be human; it must be that . . . . In the beginning, when Heaven and Earth divided from embryonic pulp, Primal spirit solidified in this towering, craggy place; At that time wild birds walked all over the mountain rocks, And left their traces upon the grey cliffs, of a prehistoric age . . . . (lines 11-14) Here we have another supernatural creation, this time posited for a person's calligraphic work. The poem continues with a familiar theme, of concealment and discovery, airily expressed: . . . . The Mountain Deity was not willing that people would see them often, And constantly disgorged cloud and fog, deeply screening and burying them; Crowds of immortals, flying through the air, wished to descend and read: Often they'd borrow the pure light of the ocean moon and come here . . . (lines 15-18) Finally there is a surprizing admission: \"Alas I cannot comprehend the method in the calligraphy;\/Yet seeing it I feel the eyes of my mind opening wide\" (lines 19-20). Then in the last couplet, he sends rubbings and his poem to Mei Yaochen and Su Shunqin to see whether they can produce a better tribute. Though Ouyang sees no clear method in the calligraphy, merely its age and the vitality it emits are enough to \"open wide the eyes of his mind.\" This is a succinct way to describe the effect many of Ouyang's poems involving mountains exert on the reader, opening our mind's eye to an awareness of hidden depth and power in objects. 70 Mention of calligraphy brings us to the subject of fine art. I have touched upon painting briefly with the \"natural\" woodland scene on the stone screen above. Another poem which deals with painting, this time by a human artist, is the \"Picture of a Climbing Cart\" of 1056.2 8 The work begins with an imaginative recreation of the scene, a horse and cart struggling up a steep mountain road, then proceeds quite abruptly to a discussion of Yang Bao, the painting's owner, and a poem that Mei Yaochen composed about it. The meandering continues through a theoretical distinction between poetry and painting, finally concluding with a return to Yang Bao, who now possesses both the original \"Picture of a Climbing Cart\" and two poems about the painting! Pale mountains, crag on crag, Jumbled stones piled up high, Mountain rocks are sharp and jagged; the cart goes bumpety bump. 4 Mountain contours twist and slope, following the creek in the gully, With hubs askew and axles tipping [the cart] seems about to topple. Emerging from the narrow opening between a pair of cliffs, Suddenly one sees a flat plain stretching for a hundred li.29 8 With the long slopes and steep inclines the ox has used all its strength, As day turns cold and evening comes, the driver's heart quickens. Yang Bao endured hunger as an official in the State University, With hard-earned cash he bought this painting which only just fills the scroll. 12 He loved its old trees, hard rocks, Mountains twisting, road turning, High and low, crooked and straight, Level and sloping, hidden and visible, 2 8 Ji vol.1, 2.25-26. Also in Xuanji 162-164. 2 9 One \/\/ J\u00a7. was a distance of approx. a third of a mile. 71 16 Beauty and ugliness, front and rear views: each with its own character, Near and far, the tiny details all clearly distinguishable. He himself said that once it bore the hands of several masters, The painting was ancient, passed about frequently: all their names were lost, 20 Afterwards, when one who saw it found out the name [of the artist], He begged for a poem from Elder Mei to clear up the situation. The ancient painting painted the meaning, it didn't paint the form, Mei's poem describes the objects, and doesn't conceal the emotions. 24 To forget the form and attain the meaning is understood by few, It's better then to view the poem as if you are viewing the painting! Now I know that Master Yang truly loves the rare, Such a painting and such a poem, and he possesses them both! 28 When joys are able to make you content, then you are truly wealthy; Why must we demand gold and jade to be called rich and noble? Viewing the painting in the morning, Reading the poem in the evening, 32 Possessing these, Master Yang will never suffer hunger! One edition of this poem adds \"Matching the Rhymes of Shengyu\" to the title, and gives the note \"presented to Lecturer Yang\" [i.e. Yang Bao]. 3 0 In fact, although doubtless inspired by Mei's poem \"Observing Yang Zhimei's [Bao's] Picture of a Climbing Cart,\" both the rhyme and the metre of Ouyang's version are quite different.31 The latter, with its four-syllable interpolations into a basic seven-syllable pulse (see lines 1-2 and 12-15), is particularly effective in suggesting the bumpy and twisting road in the painting. Yet in spite of these distinctions, the reference to Mei's poem proves very 3 0 In Ji, ibid. 3 1 See Mei's poem in Zhu Dongrun, op.cit. vol.3, 901. 72 instructive in other ways: firstly, it can serve as a foil, bringing into sharp relief Ouyang Xiu's unique approach to writing a poem (I shall discuss this point below); secondly, and crucial for interpreting Ouyang's work, Mei informs us in his poem that he actually wrote it down on the painting scroll itself: \"I write it for you at the end of the scroll,\/Hoping that you will pass it from generation to generation.\"32 With these words, suddenly Ouyang's poem gains a much tighter structural consistency: we are not merely dealing with two different objects which Yang Bao possesses, but with a single, complex painting-poem object; hence, Ouyang's comparison of the peculiarities of the two genres here is entirely fitting. Moreover, I have noted in discussions of poems above that Ouyang almost invariably juxtaposes his descriptions of mountains with other subjects. I suggested that the effect of such juxtaposition is often a remarkably expanded perception of an apparently minor theme, which draws the reader into a powerful, dynamic world. As if goaded by the very complexity of his topic here, Ouyang is not content with the simple juxtaposition of two subjects; instead he portrays, first, the mountainous world of the painting (inanimate object), another imaginative reconstruction of a static scene;33 next, Yang Bao (human subject) appears as a poor, starving official who used his hard-earned money to buy the painting, rather than filling his belly, presumably. Third, there is Yang Bao's more abstract description of the painting, quite distinct from Ouyang's \"own\" attempt (lines 12-17). The mountain-like breadth of Yang Bao's character is implied both by the inspiration he clearly receives from such a painting, and by his choice of Mei Yaochen to compose a complementary poem on the scroll. Hence, fourthly, there is Mei's poem \u2014 another inanimate object which, Ouyang claims, opens up the deeper, fulfilling mountainous world of the painting. Ouyang encompasses all these various subjects within the structure of his own poem. 3 2 Ibid, lines 23-24. 3 3 Similar to the activity of the crows in \"Song of the Stone Screen of Scholar Wu\" above. 73 If such an analysis seems rather too complex, some justification is provided by the description of the painting which Ouyang attributes to Yang: He loved its old trees, hard rocks, Mountains twisting, road turning, High and low, crooked and straight, Level and sloping, hidden and visible, Beauty and ugliness, front and rear views: each with its own character, Near and far, the tiny details all clearly distinguishable (lines 12-17). It is a similar intellectual abundance and fertile imagination that Ouyang's poems involving mountain themes portray. Before leaving this poem, I will draw a comparison with the work by Mei Yaochen on the same subject.34 Apart from the obvious fact that, unlike Ouyang, Mei does not refer to another poem in his work, hence one level of Ouyang's complex structure is missing, there are several other differences of style and content. There is no tribute to Yang Bao in Mei's poem, no attempt to show Yang's appreciation of the painting, or to draw a connection between him and the mountain scene. Mei's work consists simply of 12 lines describing the content of the painting, then 12 more lines discussing its attribution. For that, Mei chooses the Liang dynasty (502-557) painter Zhan Ziqian, yet notes the opinion of another observer that it is a much later work by Wei Xian of the Southern Tang (923-936). Since both are \"wonderful artists\" (line 17), the painting is worth keeping, whoever created it and despite its rather worn appearance. Mei concludes by expressing the hope (mentioned above) that his poem on the painting will also be kept and passed down through the generations. 3 4 Reference at note 31 above. 74 Mei's poem therefore adopts the tone of a connoisseur, first bringing observers' attention to certain details which show the painter's skill \u2014 for instance the \"old, thin needles\" of tall pines at the entrance to the valley, in contrast to the \"withered, high\" trunks of the ancient trees on the stream banks (lines 1-2) \u2014 and then risking a scholarly opinion on its attribution. Both these stages are carried out with great care, avoiding any recourse, if possible, to the poet's emotions. This is perhaps what Ouyang means by the comment: \"Mei's poem describes the objects, and doesn't conceal the emotions\" (line 23). Ouyang, by contrast, spends the first six lines emphasizing the extreme jaggedness and steepness of the mountain road, and the consequent rough passage of the carts. Apart from the opening irregular metre which I noted, the profusion of onomatopoeic and rhyming binomes gives the impression of piled up mountains \u2014 linlin il$t (\"jagged and cragged\"), diedie ft ft (\"pile on pile\") and even perhaps qiao 'ao tfji S | (\"up and down\") \u2014 and of the consequent bumping cart: lulu 1^ (\"bumpety bump\"). These binomes all occur in the first fifteen characters (three lines). Likewise the repetition of mountain three times, and rocks four times, in the first four lines adds to the sense of the landscape crowding in on all sides. Mei Yaochen, on the other hand, repeats only one adjective in all his twelve lines of description \u2014 the earthy hills pale into the \"distance and further distance\" \u2014 and the only noun which occurs more than once, \"cart\" (ju $ ) , does so because there is more than one cart in the picture! Ouyang is so concentrated on the tortuous landscape that he neglects to specify how many carts there are, and conspicuously avoids any distinction between carts at different stages of the route. Interestingly, he seems literally to be \"animating\" the journey as he opens the scroll \u2014 mountains and rocks roll by, then the cart bumps along; continuing to open up the scroll, more mountains and a creek appear; next the cart proceeds with hubs and axles tilted as if toppling over; then, emerging from between the cliffs, the scroll fully open, one sees the flat plain stretching ahead; now, though the ox is tired and evening is coming \u2014 bringing a corresponding drop in temperature \"in the painting\" (see line 9) \u2014 the traveller's heart 75 quickens with excitement. The many different carts at various stages in Mei's description thus become for Ouyang Xiu a single cart caught in several \"freeze frames\" as it moves through the crowding-in landscape and onto the plain. In contrast to Mei's static depiction, Ouyang observes the painting dynamically, as if it is a visual poem occurring in temporal succession. For Ouyang, too, we could adopt his own maxim: \"Better to view the poem as if you are viewing the painting\" (line 25). His method of \"viewing\" just happens to differ from that of Mei Yaochen. In \"Picture of a Climbing Cart,\" through its juxtaposition of poem with painting and its \"quotation\" of Yang Bao's reasons for the painting's attractiveness, Ouyang also takes the opportunity to clarify his own manner of appreciating cultural objects as related to the landscape and the natural world. \"The ancient painting,\" he writes, \"painted the meaning; it didn't paint the form\" (line 22). 3 5 This comment suggests that painters before the Song were not aiming for realistic representation \u2014 as Song literati might have understood the term \u2014 but for the meaning implied by outward forms; Ouyang's term \"meaning\" here is perhaps best defined by referring to the list of polar attributes which Yang Bao loved in the painting above. Only such a combination of opposites, including even beauty and ugliness, can indicate the manifold variety of the world. As for Mei's 3 5 This section discusses lines 22-25 of the poem. It is very possible that these lines are put into Yang Bao's mouth, continuing his account of the painting's attribution. Yet Ouyang clearly approves of the sentiments, hence his conclusion in line 26: \"So I know that Master Yang truly likes the rare!\" Egan also discusses these lines and lines 26-31 in his conclusion. He feels that Ouyang is generally more interested in the \"meaning\" of artworks than their \"appearance\" (xing which I have translated \"form\"). See Egan 196-7, 199. Rather than concluding with Egan that Ouyang is here espousing an ideal of \"amateurism,\" and \"valuing . . . yi [M meaning] over technical competence\" in his literary as well as other cultural pursuits (ibid. 198-199), I would instead point, first, to the great care which he takes in structuring his longer poems, even down to fine details of metre and word-play; and second, to the close relation between these formal features and the content which they express. It is true that he does not describe objects as precisely as Mei Yaochen, but that is because he prefers to emphasize other poetic techniques, and certainly not because he devalues poetic craftsmanship, or \"technical competence,\" in general. 76 poem, it \"describes objects, and doesn't conceal the emotions\" (line 23). As I have claimed, Mei is much more careful than Ouyang to give an exact description of the painting's contents. However, \"to forget the form and attain the meaning is understood by few\" (line 24). This phrase probably has two referents: first, ancient paintings, which are neglected for their lack of realism \u2014 except by connoisseurs like Yang Bao \u2014 and second, Mei's poems which, due to their remarkable objectivity, careless readers assume to have no inner \"meaning,\" or profundity. Therefore, the conclusion in line 25 \u2014 \"It is better then to view the poem as if you are viewing the painting\" \u2014 in this context implies that although Mei's poem is a surface description of the painting's contents and possible attribution, we see, through its attention to detail, many meaningful features which we might otherwise overlook: he acts as a guide on what to notice in the painting. His poem is perfect for its context, written beside the painting. Ouyang Xiu, on the other hand, seems to place less faith in observers' ability to catch the painting's meaning. His description, aided by imaginative touches, attempts to show the emotional and structural power of the painting; he even gives two possible ways of looking, one concrete, the other abstract, to demonstrate the different levels of meaning in the work. His poem, even down to its formal aspect, attempts to reproduce the strong effect which the painting exerted on him, thus bringing it alive. Without the painting to examine, Mei Yaochen's poem would seem rather dry; whereas Ouyang's poem stands admirably by itself.36 Finally, in this section on Ouyang Xiu's dynamic mountain poems, the work entitled \"Large Stone of Ling Creek\" (from 1046)3 7 well exemplifies his interest in objects 3 6 Though certainly Mei Yaochen's admission that his poem is written \"at the end of the scroll\" is essential for understanding the structural ingenuity of Ouyang's work. 3 7 In Ji vol.1, 1.30. Also translated, but only very briefly discussed, by Egan 101-102. See also Egan's rendition of the prose account on two such rocks (ibid. 217-218). From this account we learn that originally there were six Ling Creek rocks, arranged in the garden of 77 which will bring alive the power of a mountain landscape through sympathetic imaginative effort. The poem runs as follows. New frost falls at night; autumn waters are shallow, There, a stone reveals itself at the edge of the cold creek. Covered with moss, soiled by earth, and pecked away by wildfowl, 4 It appears every autumn out of the creek, and in spring is submerged once more. By the creekside an aged fellow has known of it since his youth, He's puzzled why I come to gaze, so warm and enthusiastic. I love it, and move it far away, towards Secluded Valley, 3 8 8 Dragging it out with three young bullocks, and loading it on two carts. We pass right through the centre of town: they stop their market to watch, They are simply amazed and consider it strange that someone would treasure it again. Wilderness mists and wild grasses have buried it such a long time, 121 wash it clean at the pure, chill spring within the stony cave. a certain General Liu Jin (fl. late-ninth century). During the Five Dynasties period (907-960) Liu's family was ruined, and the garden abandoned. Four of the rocks were removed by anonymous collectors, and the fifth Ouyang has seen in \"the home of a local resident.\" The final rock, subject of this poem, was too large to move, hence its neglect (Chinese text in Ji vol.1, 5.37-38). This explanation is quite surprizing if one reads it alongside the poem. As Egan notes, the prose and poetic accounts have very different concerns (ibid. 102). In fact, apart from the vague reference to \"a hundred battles changing hill to valley\" in line 19 of the poem, which we find indicates the Five Dynasties, I feel the poem reads better when divorced from the specific context. Thus, Ouyang purposely avoids mentioning the other five rocks in the poem, since he wishes to set up the contrast between a strange, stone-loving official like himself, and ordinary people who consider the rock useless. Reference to the other five rocks, all previously removed by collectors due to their relative portability, would dampen somewhat our impression of Ouyang as discoverer of hidden treasure. 3 8 Secluded Valley: the place in Chuzhou where Ouyang built his Drunken Old Man Pavilion, and Pavilion of Abundance and Joy. 78 Red columns and green bamboo will cover it with their reflections, I've chosen to give it the place of honour, facing the southern terrace. Lined up beside the southern terrace are tens of thousands of peaks! 16 Never before has such a wonderful craggy mass existed. Now I know that rare objects are neglected by the world: We struggle to buy them, spending a fortune, but how long can we retain them?39 Over mountains and rivers, a hundred battles have transformed hill into valley, 20 What was the reason that made you fall on the bank of that barren creek? Since mountain classics and local gazeteers cannot discover the source, Many different theories appear, struggling in chaos and confusion. Al l agree that Nugua, when she first began her refining, 24 Dissolved and condensed the unified spirit to form the essential purity. She gazed above at the blue sky and, filling in all its cracks, Dyed this carmine and emerald [stone] which dazzles and gives out warmth. Some suspect that, among the ancients, Fire-Producing Master 28 Revolved it, giving off sparks of fire for frying and for baking. It must have been such a divine sage who marked it with his own hands, Otherwise no-one could carve such holes, and excavate such caverns. Another declares that the Han ambassador, bearing the seal of the Han, 32 Travelled north-west for ten thousand \/\/', reaching the edge of Kunlun. His route passing through Yutian, he obtained a precious jade, 4 0 It floated into the Middle Kingdom from the source of the Yellow River. Sand ground it, waters gushed over it, thus the caves were pierced, 36 And so it was that the carving and drilling left no spot or blemish. 3 9 Literally, \"how many people do we pass them down to?\" 4 0 Yutian is in the west part of present Xinjiang Autonomous Region; Egan suggests that the Han ambassador is Zhang Qian, who explored to the west from 139-126 B.C. (op.cit. 102). 79 Alas for me! I have a mouth but lack the gifts for debating, Heaving a sigh, all I can do is stroke it with my two hands. Lu Tong and Han Y u are no longer in this world, 40 No more are there heroic writings to suppress the hundred oddities. Struggling for rarity, battling to be different, all seek to gain the advantage, Thus do they reach the point of absurdity, without any basis or cause. Heaven is high, and Earth is broad: there is nothing which might not exist, 44 Ugly and good, the ten thousand forms: how can we fully explain them? All we should do is brush away the snow and sit down by its side, And day after day invite worthy guests to line up their clear wine goblets. This poem at first seems quite remote from the mountain theme, but Ouyang makes the connection explicit in lines 15-16: \"Lined up beside the southern terrace are tens of thousands of peaks;\/Never before has such a wonderful craggy mass existed!\" Like the \"Song of the Stone Screen of Scholar Wu\" above, Ouyang takes a strange stone and creates from it another imaginative, primal atmosphere inspired by its colour and form alone. In this case the witty juxtaposition \u2014 the pretence that these are full-scale mountains viewed from the terrace \u2014 demonstrates the encroachment of wild enormity on a civilized, carefully-planned setting. In order to reach this stage of the poem, Ouyang has taken us back to where he found the rock during the most unpromising time of the year: \"at the edge of the cold creek,\" mud- and moss-covered, emerging and sinking year after year. The local people treat it as unexceptional; only Ouyang realizes the worth of his discovery. He brings it on a slow, difficult journey through the town, back to his pavilion at Secluded Valley. Though . everyone stops their business to look, it is only because they cannot believe anyone would want such a strange, worthless object. This is the first, ignominious, journey of the stone, on bullock carts, past puzzled and contemptuous observers. 80 Ouyang caricatures himself as an enthusiastic magistrate, washing the stone reverentially in the \"pure, chill spring within the stony cave.\" This contrast between himself and the townspeople sets the tone of humorous incongruity, which continues throughout the poem. Thus, having set up the stone in its place of honour, where it assumes the aspect of an immense, craggy mountain range, Ouyang and his guests must now establish a more attractive and inspiring origin that will do justice to its new-found grandeur. To replace the first humble journey, Ouyang invents an enormous mythical journey beginning when the universe was still in chaos: the goddess Niigua, using it to repair the heavens, dyed it \"carmine and emerald,\" hence its colour. Next we come to another crucial moment in the history of the world: the discovery of fire-making. The Ling Creek stone was the base on which the mythical figure \"Fire-Producing Master\" drilled in order to create sparks for the first time, which apart from being very useful to human development, also pierced the holes and caverns in the stone. Finally, entering the historical period, the stone becomes a symbol of the glorious expansion of the Han dynasty: the Han ambassador discovers the Kunlun Mountains, site of the mythical pillar holding up the heavens, centre of the world. He obtains the \"precious jade,\" and it floats down the Yellow River from the river's supposed source in the Kunlun range. Above we saw the polar opposition of the Yangtze River and Mount Lu; here we encounter an even mightier water-mountain polarity. As the rock floats down into China (the Middle Kingdom), sand and water smooth out the ruts made by Fire-Producing Master's drilling. Though Ouyang attributes the mythical explanations of the stone's three characteristics \u2014 colour, holes and smoothness of execution \u2014 to different speakers, they clearly emerge from his own fertile imagination and scholarly knowledge. His purpose is to set up these desperately ingenious disputers as foils for his own tongue-tied, but stone-loving, persona in the poem, who reappears in lines 37-38: \"Alas for me! I have a mouth but lack the gifts for debating;\/Heaving a sigh, all I can do is stroke it with my two hands.\" It is good enough to appreciate a rare object, Ouyang's silence implies. Instead of 81 inventing tales that \"have no basis,\" why not discover the profound meaning in the stone's true journey from mossy, frosty riverbank to polished garden splendour; from neglect to appreciation. This is a quieter and less dignified, but perhaps deeper, source of meaning in life. Before moving to a contrasting series of poems, it may be instructive to treat this work as Ouyang treated the \"Picture of a Climbing Cart,\" namely, after the imaginative description of its contents, to step up to a more abstract level and view it once more. For the painting, Ouyang gave a series of polar oppositions \u2014 \"high and low, crooked and straight,\/Level and sloped, hidden and visible,\/Beautiful and ugly,\" and so on. 4 1 Seen from this viewpoint, the painting thus becomes a kind of middle stage between the infinite, chaotic variety of the world and the simplifying, classifying tendencies of human beings: although it depicts objects recognizable from our experience of the real world, the painting does not hide its conceptual nature, its ordering of that world. Hence Ouyang's phrase \"the ancient painting painted the meaning; it didn't paint the form.\" 4 2 At the same time, the order is a complex one \u2014 nothing exists without its corresponding opposite \u2014 hinting at the complexity inherent in nature. \"The Great Stone of Ling Creek\" also displays many of these kinds of oppositions. There is, most obviously, the major contrast between everyday and mythical worlds exemplified by the two journeys, the mundane and the fantastic, taken by the stone. Although Ouyang's persona implies in this poem that the pursuit of the fantastic is ultimately absurd, his many other works in this vein show that it exists in a polar, complementary opposition to the everyday. Other oppositions in the poem include that of size: the stone seen as a huge mountain range; of values: the local peoples' contempt for the stone versus Ouyang's love for it; also, there are several \"battles\" or \"struggles\" of opposing forces in the work: struggles of people to buy rare objects (line 18); a hundred 4 1 See above, lines 12-17 of the poem \"Picture of a Climbing Cart.\" 4 2 Ibid, line 22. 82 battles reducing mountains to valleys,4 3 and transforming the stone from prized possession to neglected, muddy occupant of the riverbank (lines 19-20); \"chaotic\" struggles (line 22) among Ouyang's guests to give the most heterodox theory on the stone's origins; and there are the \"heroic\" battles of Han Yu (768-824) and Lu Tong (d.835) in the Mid-Tang, attempting to suppress with words the hundred oddities (lines 39-40). In the end, Ouyang claims, faced with the infinite variety of forms, our struggles are pointless (lines 42-44): perhaps the final opposition in the poem, therefore, is one between energetic activity and silent acceptance. It is the possibility of all these divergent aspects existing together in the world and in art which inspires Ouyang Xiu. So much so that, especially in these more dynamic poems, he goes out of his way to include apparently unrelated topics within a single structure. In this way, he is able to involve the power and breadth of mountains in subjects as diverse as those above: stone screens, a calligraphic rubbing, a painting, a tribute to a retiring friend, and a colourful rock. Faced with oppositions, his mind is inspired to create a structure binding them together. Tranquil Mountains Talk of polar oppositions provides a suitable opportunity to turn now from these dynamic mountain poems to another group of works which display a more tranquil, deeper image of mountain scenery. I am not claiming that these are necessarily more profound, meaningful creations, but only that in them Ouyang emphasizes the depth, rather than the awesome size or force of the mountain. Of particular importance is Ouyang's preoccupation with pure springwater emerging from within the rocks. This preoccupation is evident even in some of the poems above, such as \"The Great Stone of Ling Creek,\" 4 3 A figurative phrase originating in the Shijing If M. (\"Book of Songs\"), referring to reversals in the social hierarchy. 83 where Ouyang carefully washes the stone in the \"pure, chill spring of the stony cavern.\" The sheer frequency with which this image recurs suggests a symbolic, even spiritual, significance which I will discuss after providing some examples. First, \"Cave of the Three Travellers,\" a relatively early work written in 1037 during Ouyang's first exile in Yi l ing. 4 4 The three travellers of the title were the Tang poets Bai Juyi (772-846) and Yuan Zhen (779-831), along with Bai's younger brother Xingjian. Bai Juyi wrote a prose account of their trip to this cave which provides a useful background for understanding Ouyang's poem, and runs in part as follows: 4 5 On the tenth day of the third month, we met up at Yiling. The next day we rowed back, and saw each other off as far as Xialao Fort. The following day we were about to part but couldn't bear to, so we guided the boat up and down for a long time. Rapt with wine, we heard the sound of a spring between the rocks, so we left the boat and entered the thicket, stepping onto the broken bank. At first we saw rocks, as if piled up and sliced; their strangeness was like arms stretched out or like drooping flags. Next we saw the spring, as if gushing and splashing; its wonder was like suspended white silk or a thread not yet cut off. So we linked up the boats at the foot of the rocks, and led the servants in cutting the weeds and slashing the undergrowth, scaling the heights and using ropes to cross the slippery [sections]; we rested, then continued the ascent, altogether four or five times. Glancing above and peering below, there were absolutely no traces of people; only water and stone close by us, clear and solid, leaping pearls and splashing jade, startling and 4 4 Ji vol. 1,1.4. Also in Xuanji 47-48. 4 5 Quoted in Xuanji 47-48, from Bai's piece San you dongxu H W M fT% in Bai Xiangshan ji (Changsha: Guoxuejiben congshu 1938) vol.2, 26.14. 84 stimulating our eyes and ears. Since it hadn't reached the twilight hour, we loved it and could not leave.4 6 In a short while the mountains in the gorge darkened, the clouds broke up and the moon emerged: the vital essence of light was contained, then emitted, shining and extinguishing simultaneously, dazzling and glittering, so that forms were born in its midst. Though one had an agile tongue, one could not name the forms. Ouyang's poem depicts his own trip to the same place near Yi l ing : 4 7 Oars splash against the clear river current, Leaving my boat, I climb the azure peaks. Seeking the marvellous I brave layered crags, 4 Thus I reach the end of the human realm. Guiding my boat throughout the day, I love the cloudy mountains, But all I see are blues and greys between the far-off mists. Who'd have known there could be a cave within the rosy clouds 8 With milky ducts and cloudy balm congealing the essence of stone?48 Grey cliffs; a single pathway crosses a log bridge, Azure walls a thousand feet high rise up before the entrance. Past people have left appreciations: who did they write them for? 12 The people have gone from the mountain slopes; their traces seem yet more secluded. 4 6 \"Twilight hour\" is a paraphrase for xushi FJC Pf, which refers to the period between around seven and nine o'clock in the evening. 4 7 For reference, see n.44 above. 4 8 This line probably refers to stalactites and stalagmites, whose mineral-rich drips resembled milk. 85 Dark creepers and green osmanthus are so serene and peaceful, Mountain birds cry \"chuck chuck,\" not startled by their guest. Pines sing at the base of the gully, where wind rises by itself, 16 The moon emerges amidst the forest, coming to shine where I sit. An immortal realm is hard to discover, but easy enough to lose, With mountains twisting and roads turning, few people will find it, Except, perhaps, when blossoms in spring fall at the mouth of the cave, 20 And flow along the Thousand Foot Creek, emerging from the mountains. Though this poem seems less fluent than those discussed above, perhaps due to its early date of composition, it is interesting for at least two reasons. First, like \"Lu Mountain Ffigh,\" Ouyang brings out the contrast between seeing the vague forms of cloudy mountains from a distance and then entering their heart to discover a marvellous new environment: \"Who'd have known there could be a cave within the rosy clouds?\" (line 7). Secondly, and more unique to this poem, the cave within the clouds, containing milky stalactites and stalagmites, immediately suggests to Ouyang a \"realm of immortals\" (line 17). Ouyang's emphasis is on the peaceful seclusion of the cave and its environs, hence he avoids any mention of the tremendous roar of gushing water and the exertion of the climb in Bai Juyi's prose account. Yet he is clearly influenced by the former writer's description, for instance line 12, referring to Bai and company: \"The people (ren A) have left the mountain slopes; their traces (ji j$i) seem yet more secluded,\" which comments on Bai's: \"Gazing above and peering below, there were absolutely no traces of people (renji A M)\" Ouyang thus claims that in a place where people have obviously been before and left traces, the sense of seclusion is greater than in a totally undiscovered place.4 9 4 9 Certainly this observation seems to hold, for instance, in a public place such as a market, which seems oddly empty on non-trading days, or a university campus on a Sunday. 86 The other borrowing from Bai's piece is the appearance of the moon, which spreads an unearthly light over the scene. In Ouyang's lines the moon is just one of several natural objects that appear to welcome him: the creepers and osmanthus are \"serene and clear;\" mountain birds are \"not startled\" by him; the pines \"sing,\" and finally the moon \"comes to shine\" where he sits (lines 13-16). Judging by Ouyang's use of allusion in the poem, the influence of the hidden worlds of Tao Qian (c.365-c.427) and Wang Wei (700-759) is even stronger than that of Bai Juyi. Lines 11-15 contain almost a patchwork of words from Wang's quatrains;50 and the process of discovering a hidden opening between the cliffs \u2014 a \"realm of immortals\" \u2014 and then losing it immediately, added to the fallen \"blossoms in spring\" emerging from a creek at the cave mouth, bear unmistakable traces of Tao's \"Source of the Peach Blossom Spring.\"5 1 One could also call these allusions hidden worlds within a superficially simple poem. Thus, it is not only quietness and serenity that Ouyang conveys, but the sense of a newly-discovered environment, with a depth that comes upon us when we least expect it. To demonstrate that Ouyang's zest for discovering hidden mountain retreats, with obligatory spring waters, was not merely a youthful characteristic, here is an example, probably written between 1055 and 1060, from later in his life: Incidentally, the \"past people\" who left these traces (lines 11-12) were probably Bai Juyi and his fellow travellers (see Xuanji 48, n.3, for this interpretation). 5 0 1 cannot imagine that Ouyang overlooked the verbal similarity between the following quatrain by Wang, and lines 13-16: \"People at ease, the osmanthus blossom falls,\/Night is silent, spring mountains empty.\/The moon emerges, startling mountain birds;\/Occasionally they cry in the spring gully.\" See QTS 4.1302 (\"Birds Calling in the Valley,\" from \"Five Miscellaneous Titles on the Clouds and Creeks of Huangfu Peak\"). Ouyang's lines contain \"osmanthus,\" \"moon emerges,\" \"birds\" which are \"not startled\"(!), and \"singing\" in the \"gully\" \u2014 which here refers to the sound of pines rather than birds. As for the moon \"coming to shine\" on Ouyang's seat, we must examine the second couplet of another quatrain by Wang: \"In the deep forest, people don't know\/The bright moon comes and shines on me\" See QTS 4.1301 (\"Pavilion Within the Bamboo,\" from the \"Wang Stream Series\"). 5 1 See Tao's prose preface and poem in Wang Yao, ed., Tao Yuanmingji (Beijing: Zuojia chubanshe 1956) 92-95. The allusion to Tao is noted in Xuanji 48, n.5. 87 Converging Peaks Pavilion.51 The mountain contours are clear for a hundred \/\/', A new pavilion presses down on their summits. Crowds of peaks gradually descend downwards, 4 From high to low they link themselves together. Peering down, I suspect there's no ground, In the distance, there is only blue-grey mist. At this time, new rain is abundant, 8 In massed valleys vernal springs resound. Forest whispers echo louder in the silence, Mountain light becomes more fresh at evening. The flowers on the precipice: who do they open for? 12 When spring departs, their beauty lasts through summer. Wild birds peer as I become inebriated, Clouds over the creek invite me to stay and sleep. Day reaches evening and a mountain breeze comes, 16 It blows me back to a sober state of mind. Drunk or sober, I rely on things outside, So clouds and birds, it is vain for you to linger. Several motifs from the earlier poem are recognizable here. Ouyang is once more away from the world, this time too high to see the ground \u2014 he \"suspects there's no ground:\/In the distance there's only blue-grey mist.\" Note the similarity with \"Cave of the 5 2 Ji vol. 1, 6.78. Many of the poems in this section of Ouyang's collection, including this one, are not dated, unlike those in ce 1 and 2. This one is placed between dated works of 1055 and 1060. 88 Three Travellers,\" line 6: \"But all I see are blues and greys between the far-off mists,\" describing looking up from below. There is also the sound of the trees, and a freshening of the wind at evening \u2014 in the earlier poem the wind rises by itself, and the emerging moon indicates nightfall. Finally, natural objects again welcome this appreciative visitor: \"birds peer\" at his drunkenness; clouds urge him to stay and sleep. In this case, however, the evening wind is cool enough to sober him up and acts as a voice of reason, calling him back to reality. There are two main distinctions between this work and the \"Cave of the Three Travellers\" which make it more representative of Ouyang's mature, tranquil mountain verse. Although he is definitely removed from the everyday world, there is no mention of immortal realms, or of the difficulty of rediscovering such an unearthly scene after he leaves it. Even in the earlier poem, this theme was quite muted, but here Ouyang is satisfied with natural mountain wonders, avoiding hints of the supernatural. The other development in this later work is the presence of the drunken persona, a common figure in much of Ouyang's quieter mountain verse after his Chuzhou exile. Drunkenness seems to increase the sense of detachment from the world below \u2014 without having to resort to immortal realms \u2014 and explains the exaggerated and humorous personification of birds, clouds and wind. One can easily imagine the inebriated official \u2014 habitually accustomed to obeying superiors \u2014 assuming that the cool breeze is consciously warning him to return home before dark. At the same time, becoming drunk seems to cause a state of contented passivity in Ouyang in which time loses its urgency, and he is free to appreciate the natural order without the need to overpower i t . 5 3 This is perhaps the sense of the line: \"Drunk or sober, I rely on things outside.\" Blown sober by the wind, returning to his senses is also a return to the normal world of effort and initiative. As he attempts to do in some of his more dynamic poems. 89 Similar motifs recur in many of Ouyang's works in this vein, and it is instructive to compare passages from several different poems. It appears that rather than attempting to describe outside scenery as faithfully as possible, Ouyang instead rediscovers a corresponding atmosphere in widely different places. Chuzhou provides the most famous examples. The poem \"Written on the Wall at Chuzhou's Pavilion of the Drunken Old Man\" 5 4 of 1046 contains these lines: . . . . All I love is the water below the pavilion, It comes from between the chaotic mountain peaks, Sounding as if it has fallen from the sky, It gushes past, right before the eaves, And streams down to the creek beneath the crags, Where Secluded Spring adds to its stately flow . . . . . . . Therefore, many a time I take some wine, Walking a long way to approach its babbling. Wild birds peer as I become inebriated, Clouds at the creek invite me to stay and sleep. Mountain flowers are only able to laugh, They don't understand how to converse with me. Only the breeze that comes from the mountain summit, Blows me back to a sober state of mind. This poem is almost certainly earlier than \"Converging Peaks Pavilion,\" hence the virtually identical lines which I italicize have their source here. Though more detail is provided on the springwater, \"coming from between the chaotic mountain peaks,\" the Ji vol.1, 6.70. Also in Xuanji 105, and translated by Egan 89. 90 atmosphere in both poems is remarkably similar. To prove that this kind of echoing is not just a coincidence, another poem from Chuzhou, \"Drinking in the Evening at Secluded Valley,\" 5 5 (c. 1046-1049) includes the following lines: . . . . One path; I enter the dense foliage, I already hear the sounds of flowing water, I walk on through; the green bamboo disperses, Suddenly I notice the azure mountainside. The mountain contours embrace a secluded valley, The valley spring harbours rocks in its depths. On its banks grows a wood of healthy trees, And fine birds call from above. The birds chatter in the silence of the valley, Trees grow cool, their reflections clear in the spring . . . . . . . My thirsty heart needn't wait to drink [wine], My drunken ears, poured over, become sober . . . . . . . At this time the new rain is abundant,56 The sun goes down; the mountains grow distinct. . . Music is frequently part of these poems, especially that of the qin W (\"zither\") which Ouyang himself enjoyed playing. Sometimes the springwater produces a \"music\" superior to man-made instruments: \"Its purity is not that of pipes and strings\/It isn't that silk[-string] and bamboo [flute] are not beautiful;\/But strings and bamboo cannot compete 5 5 Ji vol.1, 6.71. 5 6 This line is the same as line 7 of \"Converging Peaks Pavilion\" above. The \"fine birds\" (hao niao a few lines above in this poem recur in \"Presented to Shen Zun,\" partially translated below, which also repeats many phrases from the other works I have quoted. 91 with its abundance.\"57 Alternatively, the spring inspires Ouyang to write a piece which will last even when he must leave: \"I cannot listen to the sounds of springwaters for long,\/So how can I get a white jade zither,\/And pour them out on crimson strings of silk?\" 5 8 A similar example is: \"Holding my zither I pour out 'Secluded Springwaters,'\/I love it and am about to stay there for ever;\/I am only frustrated that the world's vulgarity has a hold on me.\" 5 9 Again: \"Gurgling and babbling both winter and spring,\/Night and day the mountain melody resounds.\"60 Ouyang was moved when a certain Shen Zun composed a zither melody for him entitled \"Chant of the Drunken Old Man.\" 6 1 Hearing it in 1056, he composed a group of poems which demonstrate that music could also evoke a similar series of impressions. One of these works, \"Presented to Shen Zun,\" 6 2 encapsulates the scene once more: . . . . First I listened to it, and felt delighted but also rather startled . . . . . . . It was like gentle breezes in the warm sun, with chatter of fine birds, In night's silence, mountains echoing, and vernal springs singing. 5 7 From \"Written on the Wall at Chuzhou's Pavilion of the Drunken Old Man.\" See note 54 above. 5 8 From \"Drinking in the Evening at Secluded Pavilion,\" in Ji vol. 1, 6.71. The word translated \"pour . . . out\" (xie M) has the meaning \"express, compose\" as well. Ouyang uses it many times in these works, aware of its double appropriateness for music and water. 5 9 F r o m \"Excursion to Langye Mountains,\" in Ji vol.1, 1.24-25. Also inXuanji 101. 6 0 From \"Secluded Valley Spring,\" in Ji vol.1, 1.26. Also in Xuanji 106, and fully translated in Egan 119, where he gives another possible interpretation of the last three words xiang shan qu # l i | ftt as \"echoes in the bend of the hills.\" I feel that the musical interpretation of qu as melody or tune fits better with the context here and with Ouyang's other poems on similar themes. 6 1 For details on this dedication, see the preface to the following poem in Ji vol.1, 2.23. 6 2 Ji vol. 1, 2.23-24. For other poems in this group, note also \"Zeng Shen Boshi ge\" (Song Presented to Scholar Shen) in Ji vol.1, 2.30, and the so-called miscellaneous writing \"Zuiweng yin\" (Chant of the Drunken Old Man) in Ji vol. 1, 3.5-6, with its final lines: \"How virtuous you are, Master Shen!\/You can pour out my heart and console its longings.\" 92 Sitting, I longed for a thousand crags, ten thousand valleys, the place for drunken sleeping, Al l were poured out on \"three feet\" lying across your knees . . . 6 3 . . . The Old Man's joy did not have to wait for strings and bamboo pipes, Holding wine, the whole day he listened to the sound of the spring. On occasion he'd fall down drunk and take a creek stone as his pillow, Blue mountains and white clouds provided a pillow screen. Among the flowers, a hundred birds were unable to call him awake, The sun went down, a mountain breeze blew, and then he woke up sober . . . What Shen Zun has managed with music is what Ouyang achieves with his poems, namely, an imaginative recreation of a calm mountain scene centred on the pure springwaters flowing over stones. Ouyang's poem on Shen Zun's music provides a double refraction, through music and words, of the original scene, yet all the main elements are still clearly present. In fact, the recurrence of such similar sets of images suggests a distillation of the essentials of the quiet mountain, a return to simplicity. This spirit is quite distinct from Ouyang's more dynamic works, where a simple object becomes imbued with powerful complexities and oppositions. Nevertheless, the basic impetus appears to be the same, namely, an attempt to transcend the painful, difficult world of everyday experience. To bring out this aspect more clearly, here are two poems addressed to \"practitioners of the Way\" (daoshi i f dr), the first from 1047 \u2014 the Chuzhou period \u2014 and the second from Ouyang's final years awaiting retirement to Yingzhou. \"Three feet\" being a common appellation for the zither, approximating its length. 93 First of Two Poems Presented to \"Army of Spontaneous Action \" Li, Practitioner of the Way64 The three-foot zither of Spontaneous Action, Practitioner of the Way, Encompasses all the endless tones surviving from ancient times. The tones resemble pouring water running over stones, 4 He pours it out unceasingly, drawing from deep sources. Although the plucking's in the fingers, the sound is in the mind, I do not use my ears to listen: instead I use my heart. Since heart and mind are both engaged, I forget my bodily form, 8 I'm unaware of miserable clouds overshadowing the sun of Heaven and Earth. Presented toXu, Practitioner of the Way [1068].6 5 Luo City in the third month, chaotic orioles fly, In the Yingyang mountains, at flower blossoming time. Coming and going are horses and carriages, people on trips to the mountains, 4 Greedy to look at mountain flowers and tread on mountain rocks. The cave of Violet Clouds Immortal is locked deep in the clouds, Inside the cave, there is a man about whom people know nothing. 6 4 In Ji vol. 1, 2.1. Also in Xuanji 110-111. The term daoshi may refer to a Daoist monk, or perhaps just one who sought longevity and led the life of a recluse, hence my translation. 6 5 Ji vol.1, 2.56. 94 Master Xu, floating about, you may be descended from Jingyang,66 8 With bones of the Way and immortal bearing, you're really a sire of immortals. For many years you have washed your ears, avoiding the worldly clamour, Alone you lie on a cold crag, listening to mountain streams. Supreme people have no mind and do not calculate in their minds, 12 Lacking a mind is the true way to attain everlasting longevity. You came suddenly to gaze at me, full of warmth and affection, Laughing at me, with white hair, growing old in the dusty world. When you return, build for me a hut before the crags, 16 Wait for me, and next year I will plead for my retirement!67 In works addressed to practitioners of the Way, it is no surprize to discover Ouyang utilizing some of their own terminology: phrases such as \"no mind\" and \"forgetting the bodily form\" are unusual in Ouyang's poetry in other contexts. Yet Ouyang feels that the source of these peoples' spirituality, longevity and creativity is the same as in his more \"secular\" poems: mountain waters flowing over rocks. No superficial contact with these waters is sufficient to partake of their creative powers, hence one must go beyond the typical haunts of day-trippers, \"greedy\" for flowers and picturesque scenery. Ideally, one should live in a cave, not only \"locked deep in the clouds\" but also within the mountain, where its milky essence drips down to form stalactites.68 More practically, one can \"lie alone on a cold crag, listening to mountain streams.\" That is Ouyang's plan for retirement. 6 6 Jingyang ~$\u00a3 PJ\u00a7 was a small town in Jingde County (present S.E. Anhui Province). I can't find any connection with immortal lore. Perhaps Ouyang means that though he knows Xu's actual place of birth, the recluse seems to belong to another world altogether (cf. line 8). 6 7 Literally, \"beg for my body,\" a stock phrase meaning to request and obtain retirement from official service. 6 8 See the poem \"Cave of the Three Travellers\" above. 95 Those who receive their creative inspiration from flowing waters can then recreate the experience in art. From the small, hollow centre of L i Daoshi's three-foot zither \u2014 another cave-like hole \u2014 emerge \"endless tones . . . like pouring water, running over stones;\/He pours it out unceasingly, drawing from deep sources.\" In this first poem, the lines themselves seem to flow like water: \"tones\" (yin H) of line 2 overflows into \"tones\" of line 3; \"pouring\" (xie :M) of line 3 then recurs in line 4. The deep source in the mountain produces endlessly flowing water; just as one's deep mind is the source inspiring flowing fingers on the strings; whose sounds run on through the listeners' ears to their heart. Carried to such depth, one can forget one's outer form and the \"overshadowing clouds\" of sadness. Moving back to the poems on similar themes above, Ouyang returns again and again to the flowing spring waters because they are the most potent natural symbol of his own approach to the manifold experiences of the world. He is constantly searching out the source and origin of things he encounters, even the most unpromising, striving to discover their depth and significance, activating their potential as windows into a hidden world, and connecting them with the endless flow of events: in the end, animating the inanimate. Thus he can enrich his life and forget his cares. The two aspects of Ouyang's mountain poetry therefore bear a complementary relation. The water welling up unceasingly from the quiet depths of mountains, nourishing the plants and trees around it, acts as his constant inspiration. This inspiration he can recreate in poetry or music, or transform into a creative, dynamic encounter with the world; hence it is a source of his more powerful verse. At the same time, the immense elemental forces of the mountain environment, occasionally terrifying in their intensity and sudden in their changes, yet overarched by a massive, solid structure, approximate most nearly to Ouyang's idea of greatness, openness and complexity. Hence the frequent 96 encroachment of such mountain imagery in the poems on diverse subjects above, and the often elemental style of poems in which mountains play no visible role. 6 9 Mountain Comparisons: Influence of the Intellect A final group of poems on mountain themes combines features of both the categories above, as if displaying this complementary relation. Ouyang here compares one kind of mountain or range with another. Once again, we see the influence of intellectual reasoning on these poems, a quality that informs much of Ouyang's other verse, and which often prevented Ouyang and later Song dynasty poets from succumbing to the despair of a single moment.70 I would add that the very act of creating these poems works as a diversion from present sadness and worries, and aids Ouyang's mind in discovering order and balance in life. The first poem, written when Ouyang was back in the \"dusty\" capital Kaifeng, in 1041, recalls the mountains on either side of Yiling, his former place of exile. As we shall see, the mention of Mei Yaochen (Shengyu) in the title is as significant as the mention of mountains. 6 9 For more details on Ouyang's interest in the zither, see my biographical sketch above, p. 15, n.24. And for the place of the zither in the Chinese literary tradition, cf. Robert Van Gulik, The Lore of the Chinese Lute (Tokyo: Sophia University 1940); Kenneth DeWoskin, A Song for One or Two (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan 1982); and for its transmission to Japan, Stephen Addiss, Tall Mountains and Flowing Waters\u2014The Arts of Uragami Gyokudo (University of Hawaii 1987). I am indebted to Jonathan Chaves for these references. For poems by Ouyang Xiu involving other musical instruments, see the following chapter. 7 0 As Yoshikawa notes, in op.cit. 64, contrasting Ouyang's work with that of Tang poets. Yet see my chapter 4, section on plants and trees below, for further discussion of this assertion. 97 Remembering the Mountains, Shown to Shengyu.71 I long for the Yiling mountains, Mountains wild and unfathomable. Two or three miles from the eastern city wall, 4 High and low flow into ridges and hills. Massed peaks, twisting, link up to meet them, Looking all round, there's no advance or retreat. I remember once, entrusted with official inspections, 8 I saw for myself both the huge and the tiny. At this time, autumn foliage was red, Alpine valleys piled up patterned silk. Forests withered, the pines' scales chapped, 12 Mountains aged, their stone spines thin; Along a broken path, I trod on crumbling cliffs, I heard the clear flow of a solitary spring. Venturing deeper, I found a river plain, 16 Ancient customs survived in the ploughing and hoeing. The gully was wild; a startled river-deer bolted, The sun emerged; a flying grouse cried. On great rocks I often lay and dozed, 20 The green peaks were a suitable place for retirement.72 In secluded searching I sighed at walking alone, My clear inspiration longed for someone to answer. 7 1 Ji vol.1, 1.8. Also in Xuanji 62-65.1 have separated the three main sections of the poem. 7 2 Literally \"for untying the girdle (of an official seal)\" a figurative phrase meaning to retire from office, according to Xuanji 63, n.2. 98 To the West of here, one finds the Three Gorges, 24 Their threatening strangeness still more rare and abundant. The River pours down, as if from heaven, Banks stand erect, opposing cliffs battling. Qian and Wu are the domains to the West, 28 Yue and Ling join up towards the south.7 3 Time and again, facing the county halls, Clouds and fog make broad daylight gloomy. Through wild mists, at Xialao fortification, 32 A cold creek washes down from two thousand feet, The Toad spurts out forming a curtain of water, Whose sweet liquid is better than twice-fermented wine. Once, I went as far as the Brown Ox [Gorge], 36 Moored the boat and listened to apes and monkeys. How precipitous, the sheer wall to the West! Its azure grey was not the work of carvers. The cloudy summits dived down into the thicket, 40 A mountain cave suddenly opened to the skies, The distant peak emerged, standing solitary, It enchanted me, and I joyfully sought to approach. I only longed to receive some of your poems, 44 Ancient and strong, pouring out rare beauties. 7 3 Explained in ibid. 64, n.3, as Qianzhou and Wujun in the present Sichuan region, i.e. west of Yiling, and Yuezhou and Wuling around present Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces, i.e. to the south. 99 In recent times, we've met up in the capital, Where carriage and horse pursue dust and confusion. Removing our hats, we've both become white-haired, 48 Raising the wine, we have no red-sleeved [companions].74 Bustle and dazzle we cannot aspire to, And secluded pastimes are few and far between. I can only compose \"Remembering the Mountains,\" 52 And with reddening earlobes add to the joking! The structure of the poem is hinted at by the triple recurrence of the word translated \"longing for\" (si,\u00ae.). It occurs in the first line, Ouyang longing for the Yiling mountains; then in line 22, after the description of the mountains to the east of Yiling, Ouyang \"longs for\" someone to respond to the inspiration he feels there; finally in line 43, having attempted to portray the even stranger scenery west of Yiling, all he \"longs for\" is to receive Mei Yaochen's poems, which he knows will succeed better than his own. Hence, not only does Ouyang claim that Mei is the person to do justice to the \"rare beauties\" of the mountainous environment, but that Mei's poetry will exert the same uplifting effect now as mountains did on Ouyang's imagination in the past. It is tempting to describe this work as a catalogue of unfulfilled desire: when Ouyang has the mountains, he lacks someone with whom to share their appreciation; when he meets Mei in the capital, he is then far from the landscape of Yiling. The conclusion of the poem appears to support this view, detailing the aged visages of the two writers, and their inability either to attract women or to escape the dust of the capital. Yet the final couplet gives two reasons for optimism in spite of everything. First, they are together and 7 4 I.e. singing girls. Ouyang's claim to be white-haired may be exaggerated, since he was only in his mid-thirties at time of writing! 100 able to \"joke\" or \"tease\" each other over wine; secondly, they can revive the mountains in their poetry \u2014 possibly Mei also composed an answer to Ouyang's work here, as he did to so many others.75 In other words, Ouyang's earlier \"longings\" for a companion and for Mei's poetry are both satisfied now, and his present \"longing\" for the Yiling mountains is overcome at least through an imaginative recreation, if not in the most concrete, physical sense! In order to demonstrate how Ouyang draws the reader (and presumably himself) back into the mountainous environment, I will compare the two sections of the poem dealing with the eastern and western mountains respectively. First, he gives a brief background sketch of the topography: to the east, the land begins to undulate, rising up to \"massed peaks\" which cut off the way forward and back (lines 3-6); to the west, in a more detailed outline befitting the stranger appearance of the landscape, the Yangtze River, the only connection with other parts of the country, pours through sheer cliffs so close that they seem to \"battle\" each other; cloud and fog cover everything; and the noteworthy sites of Xialao Fort and Toad Hump appear along the banks facing his offices (lines 23-34). After these introductions, Ouyang then relates particular excursions he made in both directions: the first (lines 7-22) begins with the words \"I remember once . . .\"; the second (lines 35-44) with \"I also once . . .\" He describes two visionary experiences, one triggered by tranquillity and springwaters; the other by the dynamism of marvellously-shaped crags. The first contains some particularly fine, evocative lines: the poet passes through alpine valleys piled with \"patterned silk\" of fallen red leaves; the pine bark is \"chapped [fish-] scales\" \u2014 a remarkable metaphor, as close examination of the nearest available pine tree will verify; the personified mountains are \"aged,\" their rocks \"thin spines\/backbones.\" Both these lines (11-12) begin with two characters describing the larger scene: \"forest withered . . . mountains aged,\" then follow with three characters on Though it seems not to be extant. 101 the particular details of the objects within that scene: \"pine scales [are] chapped . . . rock spines [are] thin.\" We thus gain the impression of movement from a general, all-embracing glance to a focused perception as Ouyang ventures further into the wilds. So far the landscape is quite desolate, a typical dreary autumn day, rather like that depicted in the \"Picture of a Climbing Cart\" above. The sense of decline and decay, evoked by such adjectives as \"withered\" (ku \"chapped\" (cun |&) and \"thin\" or \"emaciated\" (shou $\u00a3) continues into line 13, with its \"broken\" (duan iff) path and \"crumbling\" (tui Hf) cliffs. However, just as the scene pictured in \"Climbing Cart\" produced delight for its aesthetic appeal rather than despair, so here the sounds of \"pure flowing\" springwaters interrupt the decay with vitality (line 14), and guide Ouyang \"deeper\" into a pleasant place of rustic simplicity unaffected by the progress of the outside world: \"The ancient customs survived in the ploughing and hoeing\" (line 16). The clear allusions again to Tao Qian's \"Peach Blossom Spring Source\"7 6 indicate the visionary quality of Ouyang's experience here, a quality strengthened by the disorienting syntax of the following couplet (lines 17-18): The gully is wild, a startled river-deer bolts, M ^ The sun emerges, a flying grouse cries. 0 th M \u00a3t\u00b0l{lt Here, the two sections of each line do not have a logically expressed connection, but Ouyang seems to create one by juxtaposing them, as if the wildness of the gully causes the deer to become startled; and the sun causes the grouse to call. Actually, Ouyang is reflecting his own state of mind on having encountered such an unexpected, lost place: noticing the wildness of the countryside, he stops \u2014 at that moment the deer bolts, inadvertently startled by Ouyang himself. As he contemplates the scene for a while, the 7 6 See Tao Yuanmingji, op.cit. 92-93, especially lines 15-16 of the poem: \"Their offerings still used the ancient method,\/None of their clothes were in new styles.\" 102 sun emerges, and a grouse calls as if in response \u2014 but it is only Ouyang who draws the connection between them. These four images have somehow remained in Ouyang's memory, and through the use of slightly asymmetrical parallelism in the poem, he mingles them to create an impression of \"wild order.\" Thus, the various parts of speech occur in equivalent positions in each line \u2014 the nouns \"sun\" and \"grouse\" echo \"gully\" and \"deer\" respectively; the verb \"call\" answers \"bolt\/flee;\" yet the correspondence has unpredictable features: \"the gully is wild,\" expressing an unchanging state, corresponds with the dynamic phrase \"the sun emerges;\" likewise, \"startled,\" a subjective state, corresponds with the physical action \"flying,\" and the final verb of action \"bolt\" is placed with an audible, but invisible, activity \"calling (of grouse).\"77 It is surely not accidental that this couplet, the most carefully crafted of the poem, comes immediately after Ouyang has encountered the mysterious rustic world of ancient-style ploughing techniques. It is as if he pauses, and wishes the reader to pause, and recollects the series of impressions which had such a deep effect on him, unpredictable yet somehow linked within his consciousness. Then, he breaks the spell and continues the account: he lies down and dozes several times on rocks around that place, and feels tempted to retire there straightaway; the only shortcoming is the lack of a companion to respond to his verse. A similar process occurs in the second episode (lines 35-43). Ouyang has spent more time setting the background for this second excursion. Unlike some of his dynamic poems above, he has not invented a complete mythical explanation for the strangeness of the scenery, but we are clearly in the mysterious, overpowering environment of those works. For instance, the diction is similar: the two riverbanks \"battle\" \u2014 a personified, opposition on a cosmic scale; clouds obscure the daylight (lines 26 and 30); the grey blue cliffs are \"not the work of carvers,\" though they presumably appear so (line 38); finally, referring to Toad Hump and later Brown Ox Gorge, Ouyang retains only the animal 7 7 One would have expected \"startled deer bolts . . . calling birds fly\" if pure symmetry was the aim. 103 names, omitting the fact that they are geographical features; hence he emphasizes the apparent transformation of the rocks into animals due to their shape. This feature is particularly effective in line 33: \"The Toad spurts out forming a curtain of water,\/Whose sweet liquid is better than twice-fermented wine.\" Having thus set the scene, Ouyang can more briefly relate his trip to the Brown Ox (Gorge). It seems he does not climb the steep banks on this occasion but, mooring his boat, observes the peaks from below. He hears apes and monkeys, those typical residents of \"southern\" Chinese landscape poetry, here however not associated with mournful emotions. As before, he begins with a wider view of the whole enormous cliffside, then follows it down to the vegetation line, \"suddenly\" noticing a particular detail: a cave opening to the sky. The opening perfectly frames a solitary peak, standing up in the distance; once more we see an unexpected discovery of order within wildness, inspiring Ouyang to approach closer. On both these occasions, Ouyang attempts to re-enter the subjective state evoked by the landscapes around Yiling. Temporarily he can forget the dusty capital and recreate a purer world of elated discovery. As I noted earlier, the poem is addressed to Mei Yaochen. Ouyang longs for Mei to describe similar scenes in his poetry since Mei's \"ancient, strong\" verse is the only worthy vehicle for them. That is perhaps because Mei's poems generally evoke just those characteristics which the physical mountain landscape of Yiling evokes. In a sense, therefore, we can read Ouyang's whole poem also as an impressionistic description of Mei Yaochen's poetic style: the traveller\/reader Ouyang Xiu enters a wild poetic landscape within Mei's works and discovers unexpected and inspiring visions of order within it. As with the poem on Lu Mountain, where the mountain sets into relief a eulogy to a retiring friend, so here the concrete imagery of the Yiling mountains adds remarkable depth and variety to the bare adjectives, \"ancient and strong,\" used to sum up Mei's poetry. We are left thinking that if Mei's poems have the same uplifting 104 effect on us as the powerful environment which Ouyang describes, and if they display an even more compelling structure, then how truly great a poet he must be! Although the above poem compares two kinds of mountain, it makes no attempt to rank them in order of superiority. A slightly later poem, from 1044, shares many characteristics with \"Remembering the Mountains,\" this time in a comparison of Mount Song near Luoyang \u2014 Ouyang's first poetic mountain subject \u2014 and Mount Wu near the Yangtze River Gorges. The context differs slightly, since Ouyang is supposedly eulogizing a pavilion (or two pavilions?) built by Fu B i (1004-1083), and named after these two mountains, rather than directly recollecting the places: thus the ease with which he recalls the atmosphere of the mountains acts as a tribute to Fu's skill in landscaping an evocative garden. Moreover, Ouyang extends the comparison into an intellectual debate on the respective merits of the two places. By the end of the work, when he returns to the pavilions, the ostensible theme of the work, Ouyang has again indulged in an immense imaginative trek. The poem runs as follows: Climbing to Duke Fu's Song-Wu PavilionfsJ at Jiangzhou, Shown to Fellow Travellers\u2122 Massed peaks crowd in on terrace railings, And bamboo groves shade them, dense and thick. Duke, you longed so much for the mountains, 4 You personally did the design and construction! I, too, am a mountain lover, My first post was at Luo capital, 7 8 Ji vol.1, 1.15-16. Also in Xuanji 81-83. Again I have separated the contrasting sections of the poem. 105 The thirty six peaks of Mount Song 8 Faced its high buildings throughout the day. Gloom or sunshine could change at any time, A violet spirit constantly floated and lingered.79 Majestic, it lay at the centre of Nine Regions, 12 A vital symbol, overpowering distant vastness. Once, I climbed all the way to its summit, And saw the Four Peaks: small earth mounds.80 Next, I scuttled away to the barbarians of Jing, 8 1 16 And first became aware of the Gorge mountains' gloom. The Yangtze River came gushing from Heaven, Enormous rocks were suddenly split apart. At first, I imagined, when all was dark and void, 20 And Chaos died, due to piercing and drilling, 8 2 The labour of the gods was urged on during the night, Until it produced cliffs of a hundred thousand feet. Especially I marvelled at the Twelve Peaks [of Mount Wu], 24 Hidden, then visible, entering distant darkness. 7 9 \"Violet spirit\" indicates an auspicious mountain mist. 8 0 Mount Song was the central peak of China's Five Peaks. The other four, Mounts Tai and Hua, and two Mount Hengs, seem small as mounds of earth from the summit of Song. 8 1 As I mentioned earlier, Jingfzhou] was the region south of the Yangtze, in present western Hubei Province. 8 2 Chaos is a character in the Daoist work Zhuangzi who is inadvertently killed when the Lords of Northern and Southern Seas drill the seven apertures (mouth, nose, ears etc.) into its body. See Wang Xianqian, ed., Zhuangzi jijie (Taipei: Sanmin shuju 1974) 49; translated in Burton Watson, The Complete Works of Chuang-Tzu (Columbia 1968; repr. 1971) 97, from the chapter \"Fit for Emperors and Kings\" (Yingdiwang M 3i). Here Ouyang seems to take Chaos' dead body and continue working on it, until it becomes the sheer cliffside. 106 Peoples' footsteps were cut off as they climbed, A fitting [place] to imagine creatures of wonder. Gazing and observing, I would wander back and forth, 28 My imagination meeting [her] beautiful bearing.83 Mount Song is near and attractive for that, I've already made a pact with its springs and stones. I hope in the end to befriend some recluses, 32 And, white-haired, grow old in its clouds and valleys. Wu in Jing, I'm afraid, is distant and wild, Its disturbing strangeness obscure and ineffable. And recently, in the clarity of my nighttime thoughts, 36 \"Soul dreams\" have all flown startled away!8 4 I happen to come here and enjoy these pavilions, My dusty eyes scrape off their skin of confusion. Even more when clear skies follow autumn rains, 40 The dense azure hues are newly dyed and washed. At the mountain summits, the clear moon rises, And I can linger awhile, drinking in seclusion. 8 3 Since the Gao tangfu M B E (\"Rhymeprose on High Tang\") by Song Y u (4th-3rd. century BC), Mount Wu has been associated with the appearance of a goddess to King Huai of Chu. See original text in Pingzhu zhaomingwenxuan, op.cit. juan 4, 23b-25a. Ouyang's references to \"creatures of wonder\" and \"beautiful bearing\" both indicate this legend. One of the twelve peaks of Mount Wu had the form of a woman, according to the Southern Song poet Lu You. See Xuanji 82, n.4. Remarkably, Chen Xin et al. also relate in this note that Ouyang couldn't have seen Mount Wu from Xiazhou, and his \"recollections\" of visiting the place were all from his imagination! 8 4 King Huai of Chu's vision of the Goddess of Mount Wu came in a dream. Ouyang is perhaps also implying, as in \"Remembering the Mountains\" above, that he is too old to think of attracting women. 107 As with the poems of Mei Yaochen, these pavilions can take Ouyang away from the worries and concerns of everyday official life, and into a succession of inspiring, enormous worlds. Notable here is the extremely balanced structure of the poem: the first 14 lines, after a brief introduction, deal with Mount Song, symbol of majestic centrality; the next 14 with Mount Wu, in the wild South, home of seductive goddesses; following this, 4 lines discuss the merits of Mount Song, and another 4 those of Wu. Ouyang concludes here that the distance and wildness of the latter is a disadvantage, and that he no longer dreams of meeting goddesses, so doesn't need its mysterious powers! He therefore intends to retire to Mount Song. Finally, 6 lines conclude the poem with a return to the pavilions. Despite the rational features of the poem's structure and content, I feel it would be mistaken to take very seriously Ouyang's statements and conclusions on the ranking of these two kinds of mountains. Ouyang continued to write many more poems in later years, if not on Mount Wu, then on similarly unusual mountains with their own supernatural cosmic and mythical associations.85 Though he was unable to revisit the Yangtze Gorge region later in his life, it exerts a clear influence, as imaginative symbol, on his later reaction to the objects he encounters. Instead, as I have suggested above, here and elsewhere in his poetry Ouyang uses the terms and categories of rational argument in situations where they do not really belong, to create an incongruous, witty effect. Here, the effect is quite muted: Ouyang takes the two pavilions in Fu Bi's garden as if they are polemical subjects for debate; arguing from personal experience he draws a sensible conclusion, then sits back to enjoy the moon rising over the peak tips, glass of wine in hand. Several of which I have already discussed. 108 Elsewhere, the tongue-in-cheek atmosphere is much stronger, for instance, when Ouyang juxtaposes his friend's white hair and dark shirt with the white rocks and dark clouds of Lu Mountain; or, as in the following poem and that on the \"Great Rock of Ling Creek,\" when he compares \"false mountains\" (i.e. mountain-shaped stones, perhaps with miniature plants on them) with full-sized ones, as if they belong in the same league: Matching Master Xu's 'False Mountains. ' 8 6 The wisdom of craftsmen lacks no skill, The heavenly form epitomizes secluded exploration. You address me as \"one who appreciates mountains,\" 4 And line up mountains for me, beside the front eaves! The broken-down walls are but a few feet high, [Yet] ten thousand precipices surface from my heart. Some open, as if splitting apart, 8 Some spew out, resembling deep crevices; Some are long, linking up in succession, Some are thin, revealing their delicacy. Shady caves squint out into the distance, 12 High screens stand up, lofty and perilous. Behind emerges abruptly a lone peak, The crowds dash away, piling in layers. Dense, like vital spirit melted and condensed, 16 Protruding, like chiselling and carving of ghosts. 8 6 Ji vol. 1, 6.73. It is not clear who this Master X u is, but see next chapter, section on wine-drinking for a possible contender, Ouyang's student Xu Wudang. 109 In past years, I was banished to Jing and Chu, My single boat went to the extreme South-East. Remote peaks, like horses, pressed on either side, 20 The two banks looked down on rivers and pools. I often regretted that the river ran fiercely, No gentle wind invited my sail to linger. Peaks and crags, a thousand, ten thousand forms, 24 Their enchantment was beyond my power to describe. Al l I desired was to borrow powdered paints, To illustrate and mount them on the finest silk cloth. But that can't compare to this space between table and mat, 28 Where a hundred scenic views, dense and fine, are born: Evening clouds dot the fresh azure hue, A tendril of smoke rises through morning mist. Even more so, in this midwinter season, 32 When gloomy windstorms pile up thick severity. In Secluded Studio, a place of deepest joys, My eyes roam far, producing distant perspectives. I lie down at daytime, and needn't move from my pillow, 36 When morning inspires me, then I draw back the curtains. I've heard that with the residing of superior people, Emerging or retreating both depend on changing fortune. Some further the Way through lonely self-cultivation, 40 Dealing with objects, they are noble yet benevolent. 110 If they were unable to benefit the times, Coveting their income would have caused the ancients shame. Song Mountain, luckily, is not too far away, 44 Its vetch and ferns: are they not sweet? Naturally I can find reclusive companions, And, draped in clouds, grow old by creek and summit. Why do I not go there straightaway, 48 To a single hut, so peaceful and serene? I humbly receive your gift, and feel ashamed, So I write this poem in order to censure myself! The context for this poem is quite obscure, but it is possible to piece together a few useful facts. In Mei Yaochen's collection is a poem dated by Zhu Dongrun to 1043, entitled \"Sent to Inscribe on the False Mountains at Director of Criminal Administration Xu's New Residence.\"87 Ouyang's poem is not dated, but is placed between dated poems of 1049 and 1050 in his collection. The reference to \"false mountains\" and to \"Master X u \" in his title suggest that he is writing on the same subject; though he is \"matching\" a poem by Xu, his detailed description indicates that Ouyang has also seen the miniature mountain display, possibly even that Xu gave him the display later in the 1040s. A note to Mei Yaochen's poem provides further assistance. With regard to Mei's first line: \"An ancient mountain bone from Lake Tai's ten thousand caves,\" one Chen Yan states: \"It says to take a stone from Lake Tai and make a false mountain.\"88 Without this second note, one would be easily misled into considering \"False Mountain\" as a geographical name, since Ouyang treats the miniature as if it is enormous! Such confusion of scales seems to be his intention. Although he provides some clues, such as line 5 \u2014 \"the broken-down walls are 8 7 Zhu Dongrun, op.cit. vol. 1,219 8 8 See notes to the selected poems of Mei: Zhu Dongrun, ed., Mei Yaochen shixuan 57. I l l but a few feet high\" \u2014 and line 27 \u2014 \"between table and mat\" \u2014 the description is otherwise identical to that of a real, \"living\" landscape. The poem, like many of those above, seems to ramble from one subject to another, until we stand back and take stock of the whole ingenious structure. Thus Ouyang begins by praising the skill of craftsmen who can produce the exquisite \"mountains\" lined up at the front eaves, then proceeds to describe their effect on his imagination, out of all proportion to their meagre size. He emphasizes the fecundity of forms by briefly adopting the style of Han Yu's massive \"Poem on Southern Mountains\" in lines 7-10. 8 9 Yet of course Ouyang's \"miniature\" imitation lacks the enormity of Han Yu's original \u2014 its brevity seems to result in a parodic majesty to fit the false mountain subject. The portrayal of Xu's mountains continues up to line 16, its diction echoing many of the dynamic mountain poems considered earlier. A second section (lines 17-26) moves south, Ouyang once more recollecting the mountains overlooking the Yangtze River. During his travels, the fast current does not allow him to moor and examine them closely, and he wishes to encapsulate their grandeur in a painting. Compared to a painting, however, Xu's \"mountains\" might as well be the real thing, with their \"hundred views\" even, apparently, producing clouds and mist (lines 27-30). Here, from line 29 \u2014 \"evening clouds dot the fresh azure hues\" \u2014 there is a remarkable development. It appears that, having compared the false mountains with possible paintings of mountains, Ouyang finds the former so irresistibly realistic and inviting that he animates the landscape and becomes a (miniature) recluse upon it. He then 8 9 Compare lines 117-end of Han Yu's work. I should add that Ouyang seems intent on adopting even more obscure diction than Han Y u in his \"imitation\": words like xiahan and kongqian<&l are the kind of expressions one associates only with the highly ornate Han dynasty fu. For Han Yu's poem, see Qian Zhonglian, ed., Han Changli shi xinian jishi (Shanghai 1984) 432-462, incl. notes. 112 extols the joys of his life there, free from the need to rise early and carry out official duties. Such seems to be the implication particularly of lines 31-36: Even more so, in this midwinter season, When gloomy windstorms pile up thick severity. In Secluded Studio, a place of deepest joys, My eyes roam far, producing distant perspectives. I lie down at daytime, and needn't move from my pillow, When morning inspires me, then I draw back the curtains. Thus, rather than viewing the mountains from outside, Ouyang has once again entered within, and temporarily escaped into a carefree, secluded \"place of deep joys.\" In the final part of the poem, Ouyang's sense of disillusionment with official life is again triggered by this experience. He argues that the ancients were ashamed to think of a salary when, like himself, they could be of no benefit to the times; instead they would retire from society. Though Ouyang cannot retire to the false mountains, Mount Song is close by; there, \"draped with clouds,\" he could \"grow old by creek and summit.\" He censures himself for not having made his departure already. In this chapter, I have divided Ouyang's poems on mountains into two major categories: dynamic, powerful works; and deep, tranquil works. Often Ouyang allows the categories to overlap, most explicitly in the last three poems above, making a kind of intellectual comparison of various aspects of this complex poetic symbol. Apart from these three basic types of mountain poems, various themes and techniques have emerged constantly from my close reading of individual works. These include the discovery of hidden worlds, or hidden treasure; the animation and imaginative expansion of inanimate objects; and the juxtaposition of people with objects, of large with small, and of art with 113 reality, thus enhancing and deepening the significance of each. Added to such features of the poems' content is the use of irregular metres, complex but logical structures, wordplay and wit to suit each particular topic \u2014 in other words, a poetic technique which perfectly expresses Ouyang's intimations of order within wildness, and the extraordinary within the ordinary. 114 Chapter 3: Everyday and Cultural Activities Introduction As I noted earlier, Ouyang Xiu's discovery of mountains as a poetic subject came during his first post in Luoyang. There, mountain scenery was only one of many interesting experiences, and it was not until his first exile in Yiling in the mid to late 1030s that he began in earnest to express the spiritual consolation which spectacular mountainous landscapes gave him. No doubt this realization was motivated by the lack of other means of relaxation in such a cultural backwater. Ouyang's second period of exile in Chuzhou during the mid-1040s increased his appreciation of the mood-changing power of mountains, and even more so the deep tranquillity of their pure spring-waters. Later, during the 1050s and 1060s, working in positions of great responsibility in the capital Kaifeng, Ouyang's opportunities for mountain excursions lessened, and aging prevented too much physical exertion. Most of his poems concerning mountains from this period thus evoke the feelings of peaks and valleys, forests and streams by the imaginative contemplation of cultural and everyday objects. I have dealt with several such works, ostensibly on subjects like painted screens, unusual stones, or music, yet greatly expanded into powerful descriptions of the mountains Ouyang has encountered in the past. Here, I would like to examine Ouyang's poems on other aspects of everyday life, to ascertain what connection, if any, they show to the themes and concerns of his mountain poetry. In particular, I am interested in whether Ouyang uses ordinary objects or activities as points of entry into a deeper, spiritually exhilirating imaginative world \u2014 115 whether, in fact, there are other powerful symbols which inspire him to the same degree as mountains. In this chapter, I will progress from the most basic level of human existence, that of eating and drinking, through other everyday objects and activities, to conclude with two of Ouyang's favoured cultural activities, calligraphy and music. These divisions do not necessarily imply a rising hierarchy of importance, since, as I hope to show, Ouyang frequently treats mundane activities as profound cultural events, and on the other hand, is anxious not to lose sight of ordinary life even in his most esoteric cultural pursuits. Following this chapter, a further chapter will deal with Ouyang's many poems on buildings and gardens \u2014 the immediate environment of his everyday life \u2014 and with the plants and animals which he encountered within them. Obviously there will be a certain overlapping of topics between the two chapters, particularly since Ouyang tends not to restrict himself to a single theme in each poem. Drinking Tea and Wine Yoshikawa Kqjiro has noted the growing popularity of tea-drinking during the Song dynasty, as compared to wine. Su Shi (1037-1101) and later Lu You (1125-1209), he claims, were the first poets to compose profusely on the subject of tea, and the delicate stimulation provided by tea serves as a suitable image for the more intellectual Northern Song poetic style, as opposed to the drunken intensity of wine-inspired Tang dynasty poets.1 Judging by the content of his poetry, Ouyang Xiu does not yet belong to the generation of tea-drinkers. A very large proportion of his works include references to wine or drunkenness, and even granting the possibility that his use of such drinking imagery 1 See Yoshikawa 37. 116. may often be used in a figurative sense,2 it seems that he did spend the greater part of his leisure relaxing or forgetting his cares with the aid of wine. In this way, he resembles earlier poets, such as L i Bai (701-762) and Tao Qian (c.365-427).3 At the same time, Ouyang did leave a handful of remarkable poems on drinking tea, the earliest of which gives a fine impression of the mystical associations of the beverage. This work was written in 1031, and entitled \"The Buddhist Monk Wisdom of the Moon Travels to the Southern Peak.\"4 All your days you think of clouds and ravines, Returning south, your heart is broad and expansive. Blue mountains; entering the road to Chu, 4 White waters; gazing on the lakeside fields. At rural crossings you have only a Buddhist alms bowl, Mountain homes are short of money for offerings. When you arrive it will still be early spring, 8 Accept some \"delicate brew\" before the green peaks. This work is a fine example of Ouyang's regulated verse, a form with which he is not usually associated.5 Here, the two middle couplets achieve the required parallelism, 2 For instance his claim in \"Record of the Drunken Old Man Pavilion\" that \"the Drunken Old Man's intention does not lie in wine but among the mountains and waters. As for the joys of mountains and waters, he attains them in his heart and makes an analogy of them with wine.\" See Ji vol.1, 5.36-37. For a full translation, cf. Egan 215-217. 3 See below for some comparisons with the poems of Tao Qian and L i Bai. 4 Ji, vol.1, 2.61. \"Wisdom of the Moon\" is my rendition of Zhichan (^$t) , literally \"wisdom toad.\" The toad is often used as a synecdoche for the moon, since such a creature supposedly dwelt there. 5 See the remarks by Werner von Franz in the entry on Ouyang in William Nienhauser et al, ed., Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature (Bloomington: Indiana University Press 1986) 640. 117 and lines 3-4 are particularly arresting, their disguised subject blending with the natural environment \u2014 \"Blue mountains; entering the road to Chu,AVhite waters; gazing on the lakeside fields.\" Yet Ouyang also manages to give a sense of progression through the poem, so that the parallelism does not result in static observation. Hence, we move from Chu mountains (line 3) to, probably, Lake Dongting (line 4); then from rural crossings over water back up into the mountains around the Southern Peak. As a result, the final couplet, beginning \"when you arrive,\" seems the inevitable conclusion to the tiring journey, and the tea which the monk can enjoy becomes all the more refreshing after such immense exertions. The association of Buddhist or Daoist adepts with tea-drinking is not a new one. In the Tang dynasty, a famous poem on tea by Lu Tong (?-c.798), one of a group of literati in the circle of Han Y u (768-824), described the cumulative effects of drinking seven bowls of tea in quick succession: \"At the fifth bowl,\" he concludes, \"my muscles and bones are purified;\/At the sixth bowl I communicate with immortal spirits;\/At the seventh bowl I cannot drink any more,\/Feeling only a pure whistling wind rising beneath my armpits!\"6 Likewise, Buddhist writings make occasional references to tea-drinking. For example, the recorded sayings of the mid-Tang Chan master Mazu Daoyi ,i\u00a7 ffl. ijf \u2014-(709-788) contain the following encounter:7 6 Chinese text in QTS 12.4379. Full title translates as \"Written at Speed to Thank Censor Meng for Sending Fresh Tea.\" A complete translation is found in John Blofeld, The Chinese Art of Tea (Boston: Shambhala 1985) 11-13. 7 In Julian F. Pas, trans., The Recorded Sayings ofMa-Tsu (New York: E. Mellen Press 1987) 95, section 10.1 have changed the transliteration of names from Wade-Giles to pinyin. Cf. Dainihon Zokuzokyo (Kyoto 1905-1912) vol. 24.5. Note also Case 48 from the Blue Cliff Record (biyanlu H ^ 0 ) , originally compiled by the early Song Chan master Xuedou Chongxian f ^ I H (980-1052), which begins: \"When Minister Wang entered Zhaoqing they were making tea. At the time Elder Lang was holding the tea kettle for Ming Zhao. Lang turned the kettle over. . . .\" Translation by Thomas and J.C. Cleary in The Blue Cliff Record (Boulder and London: Shambhala 1977) vol.2, 332. Again I have changed the spelling of names to pinyin. Here, it seems that a formal tea-making ceremony is taking place. Elder Lang overturns the kettle in typically iconoclastic Chan fashion. Cf. Taisho shinshu daizokyo (Tokyo 1922-1933) vol.48, 2003.183. 118 One day Chan master Letian Weijian sat in dhyana behind the dharma hall. Mazu noticed him and went to blow twice in his ear. Jian rose from his concentration, noticed it was Mazu and went back into concentration. Mazu went to his room and sent a servant with a cup of tea to Jian. Jian ignored it but returned to the hall. Whether or not Ouyang knew of this collection, he certainly associated the Buddhist monk \"Wisdom of the Moon\" with tea-drinking. The following poem, about a Daoist practitioner, emphasises the mystical properties of the drink even more explicitly: Giving Dragon Tea toXu, Practitioner of the Way [1068]8 The Daoist adept of Yingyang, a traveller of dark evening mists, His coming is like a floating cloud; he departs without a trace. At night he faces the Northern Dipper's Platform of Supreme Purity, 4 He speaks not his real name; people know nothing about him. I have a cake of Dragon Tea; an ancient pale jade disc, The Spring of Nine Dragons runs at a depth of a hundred feet.9 I entreat you to draw from the well and endeavour to boil it up, 8 It has a fragrance, taste and colour transcending this mortal world. 8 In Ji vol. 1, 2.56-57. For Yingyang in line 1, see the following note. 9 Dragon tea (longcha f| ^) is probably Longfeng (f| M \"dragon phoenix\") Tea, also known as tuan cha (HI ^ \"round tea\"). According to Ouyang's \"Notes on Returning to the Fields\" (Guitian lu B\u00a7 EH 1^), the Governor of Jian'an, Cai Xiang, for whom see below, sent up to the capital small discs of Dragon Tea, called xiao tuan (\/JN H \"little rounds\") during the Qingli Reign period (1041-48). SeeJi vol.3, 14.96-97. Cf. Ji vol.2, 8.36-37. However, since Ouyang is addressing Xu, an inhabitant of Yingyang Mountain, near Luoyang (present Henan Province) the Spring of Nine Dragons in line 6 is presumably situated there. Because of its similar association with dragons, the spring's waters would blend harmoniously with the tea. 119 Xu has already appeared in the poem \"Presented to Xu, Practitioner of the Way,\" which precedes this work in Ouyang's collection.1 0 Clearly he has little to do with the ordinary world of social discourse: if he visits at all, as he did in that poem, he is like a floating cloud, transitory and unattached \u2014 \"he laughs at me, white-haired, growing old amidst red dust\"11 \u2014 and then he leaves \"without a trace.\" Ouyang must somehow justify presenting a cake of expensive Dragon Tea to such an other-worldly person; he does so by claiming that the tea has similar transcendent attributes. In the poem written to send off Wisdom of the Moon, we saw the monk returning to the mountains, the original environment of tea bushes. Here, thirty seven years later, Ouyang reasserts the connection between tea and mountains, this time emphasising the deep waters of the Spring of Nine Dragons, perfectly suited for bringing out the exquisite flavour of Dragon Tea. It is true that the reclusive subjects of these two poems both make their home in the mountains, hence perhaps it is inevitable that Ouyang would join his discussion of tea with their environment. Yet turning to a much longer poem on tea addressed to Mei Yaochen \u2014 certainly an urban dweller \u2014 there is a similar return to the original source of the leaves: Tasting New Tea, Presented to Shengyu [1058].1 2 From Jian'an, a distance of three thousand \/?, 1 3 The capital in the third month tastes new tea. 1 0 Ji vol.3, 2.56, translated in the preceding chapter. 1 1 This is line 14 of the above-mentioned poem \"Presented to Xu, Practitioner of the Way.\" 1 2 In Ji vol. 1, 2.35-36. Also in Xuanji. 1 3 Jian'an was a commandery in what is now Fujian Province. 120 People naturally love to be first and set their minds on victory, 4 Among the massed things14 they value the early, and proudly boast to each other. The year ends, and the coldest days pass; spring is about to stir, Hibernating thunder hasn't yet woken to drive forth dragons and snakes.15 During the night one hears drums banging, filling the mountain valleys, 8 A thousand people assist with shouts, their voices sound and resound. Ten thousand trees are cold and dull; unable to rouse from sleep, This bush is the only one that has already sent out shoots. Now I realize it is an object of supreme spiritual power, 12 Truly fitting that it alone should receive the beauties of Heaven and Earth! Al l morning they select and pick, without filling a cupped hand, Strung together, the pendants are small, round and slightly concave. (How base in comparison the \"spears\" and \"flags\" of the coming rainy season:16 16 So numerous they are not worth valuing, just like harvested hemp!) The Imperial Governor of Jian'an urgently sent some to me, With fragrant cattail leaves as wrapping, and a seal attached askew. The spring is sweet, the porcelain clean, and even the weather is fine, 20 At our seats we make our selection; the guests are select too. 1 4 \"Things,\" or \"objects\" (lines 11, 27), wu $3 can include plants, like tea, and even living creatures. It is an important term in Ouyang's poetry, appearing in many of the works translated below. Unfortunately, no single English word can encompass its broad range of meanings. 1 5 Dragons and snakes symbolize the spirits of water, and here refer to spring monsoons, a climatic feature of South-East and Central China. Thunder is personified as a duke driving a rumbling chariot, here perhaps drawn by the dragons and snakes. 1 6 Pendants describe the tenderest new shoots of tea; spears and flags are the larger leaves whose flavour is more bitter. For the various grades of leaves in the Song Dynasty, see John Blofeld, op.cit., especially 17-20. 121 Its fresh fragrance and tender hue seem to be just created, Appearing not to have come so far, from the distant reaches of the Empire. Halting my spoon, I tip the bowl to test the path of the water, 24 Gazing at it, level with the sky, I watch the milky flowers.1 7 How pitiful those vulgar types who grasp the metal steamer,18 With a fierce flame they scorch its back to resemble a scaly toad. It's always been that True Objects inspire a true manner of enjoyment, 28 In vain I meet the Poet Elder; together we sigh and exclaim.1 9 But in no time they rise as one, looking for wine to drink, It's just the same as performing the Odes, but concluding with wild whooping!2 0 The first two lines of the poem juxtapose Jian'an, three thousand \/\/' distant, and the capital, Kaifeng, where people can drink the newly-picked tea rushed from Jian'an. The 1 7 I.e. the ground up leaves floating on the surface of the boiling tea. Lu Y u P>!E <\u00a3) (733-804), in his Tea Classic (Chajing ^ M) describes this bubbly mixture as: \"Resembling chrysanthemum blossoms falling into the middle of a winecup.\" See Chajing (Yiwen Yinshuguan, Shanghai) juan 3.3, column 7. There is a translation of this Tang work with introduction: Francis Ross Carpenter, trans., The Classic of Tea (Boston and Toronto: Little, Brown and Co. 1974). 1 8 Though Chen and Du (in Xuanji 175-176, n.5) give \"yellow brick (of tea)\" for jin ding & i*t, neither ding nor the variants in the textual note (Ji vol. 1, 2.35) are defined as such in the Zhongwen dacidian (Taipei 1966). However, this dictionary does give an illustration of a ding (vol.34, 41408) adding that it is a pot with feet and a place for a flame underneath, often used to keep cooked foods hot (hence my translation \"steamer\"). Ouyang himself uses the word bing Uf (\"brick\" or \"cake\") when describing this very tea (see the following poem below, line 7, and a prose description in Ji vol.2, 8.36-37), and it is unlikely that he would suddenly change his terminology here. The confusion seems to be that he adds jin & to both words: in this case Jin means metal; in the following poem, as he explains elsewhere, jin refers to the golden thread design used to emboss the cakes (bing) of tea. 1 9 Poet Elder (Shilao prf 3\u00a3) was Mei Yaochen's nickname. 2 0 \"The Odes\" translates more literally as \"the Elegantiae\" (ya H), i.e. one of the three sections of the Classic of Poetry (Shijing). 122 rest of the work moves back and forth between these two places, one moment focusing on the tea-drinking, the next returning to its source in the far-off mountains. On the one hand, the work is a satire, attacking the empty pride of those in the capital, so determined to have the best of everything, yet completely unaware of the true depths of joy which fine tea offers. Though they \"proudly boast to each other\" about obtaining fresh leaves before everybody else, their vulgarity is manifested when, in their hurry to be first to boil the tea, they scorch the back of the tea-steamer so that it cracks like the skin of a toad. Finally, still in a hurry, such people gulp down their tea, and \"in no time, they rise as one, looking for wine to drink\" \u2014just as incongruous as performing the Odes, most noble and refined of ancient ritual-musical compositions, then concluding with wild whooping. On the other hand, Ouyang increases the effect of these satirical portions by emphasizing in inverse proportion his own worshipful attitude towards such a rare and mysterious brew, and stressing the sheer difficulty of procuring the tea leaves in the first place. Although a witty and humorous tone prevails throughout the poem, there is also a definite sense of awe at the deep creative powers of nature. Unlike the scheming efforts of people in the capital to gain precedence, tea bushes naturally and effortlessly produce shoots before all other trees. They appear even before the dragons and snakes \u2014 spirits of the waters \u2014 have driven forth thunder's chariot to unleash spring rains on the world (line 6). Ouyang uses comic personification to contrast these early sprouting tea bushes with \"the ten thousand trees.\" The tea-pickers must rise while it is still night in order to select fresh dew-covered leaves before the sun's rays dry and toughen them. The sound of their drum-banging and shouting fills the valley (lines 7-8) \u2014 apart from bolstering the pickers' self-confidence as they venture onto a frightening, dark mountainside, all this commotion serves to drive away any wild animals, and particularly poisonous snakes, lurking around 123 the picking area.21 Yet Ouyang decides to treat the noise as a wake-up call for the trees, dormant in winter. Other trees, he claims, are cold and dull, unable to rouse themselves from stupor; only the tea plant is already showing signs of activity (lines 9-10). Tea must therefore be an object of supreme spiritual power, and deserves to receive the beauties of Heaven and Earth. As if to stress this conclusion, Ouyang adds an extra two syllables to line 12, making it stand out from the regular rhythm of the poem. 2 2 Not only does the tea plant receive the beauties, or goodness, of Heaven and Earth, and their mysterious revitalizing powers, making tea an especially fine drink, but in the selection for the high-grade brands sent to the capital, only the most tender and delicate leaves of this excellent plant are considered. Thus, in line 13 Ouyang declares, with perhaps a little poetic licence: \"all morning they select and pick, without filling a cupped hand.\" Tea of this calibre surely deserves reverential care in its preparation and appreciation. In lines 17-24, Ouyang describes the process, from the dispatch of wrapped tea leaves post-haste to the capital, through selection of sweet springwater, clean vessels, fine guests and even a suitably clear day, onto appreciation of the fresh fragrance and tender hue of the leaves, as if \"just created,\" and finally, halting the stirring to contemplate the tea pouring out and the \"milky flowers\" of bubbles rising to the surface of the boiling liquid. Al l this activity, and still Ouyang hasn't tasted the tea! Hence his frustration \u2014 here portrayed comically, but no doubt reflecting a true mood \u2014 with the \"vulgar types,\" who damage their tea steamers with the ferocity of their boiling, and then immediately rise en masse to look for further stimulation in wine. 2 3 2 1 As noted by Blofeld, op.cit. 44. 2 2 The word translated \"beauties\" (yinghua ^ l|I), apart from its basic meaning of beautiful appearance in grasses and trees, by extension also refers to goodness or excellence in people or things. Ouyang thus implies a moral as well as visual superiority in tea. 2 3 Ouyang's description of the intricate tea-preparation process is very representative of the extant manuals such as Lu Yu's Tang Dynasty Tea Classic \u2014 see above, note 17 for original text and translation \u2014 and the last Northern Song Emperor, Huizong's (r. 1101-1125) Daguan chalun ^ i S ^ I t (Discussion of Tea in the Daguan Reign Period 124 The poem is a cleverly-structured eulogy to the spiritual depth contained within an everyday social activity,24 and at the same time an attack on people who ignore that depth in favour of petty one-upmanship. However, I feel that the \"vulgar types\" who appear in this poem are not merely present as targets for Ouyang's merciless satire. If it were only tea which inspired his brush, he could easily have ignored these \"fine guests\" in favour of a much purer, undisturbed depiction of the drink alone. And yet, he seems fascinated by the challenge of portraying the oppositions and contrasts that he encounters in life. In this case, the presence of unappreciative people in \"Tasting New Tea\" adds to the depth of Ouyang's own appreciation and gives authenticity and universality to the situation he describes: vulgarity is just as much part of life as refinement, and neither exists separate from the other. As he summarizes: \"People naturally love to be first and set their minds on victory\"(line 3). Such a broadly inclusive attitude resurfaces even during Ouyang's most contemplative and other-worldly pursuits. A second poem, matching the rhymes of the above work, supports this hypothesis, again in comic fashion; this time it is the over-stimulating effects of strong tea, and their resultant disruption of domestic order which Ouyang emphasises: Another Composition, Matching the Rhymes [1058].2 5 I am old in years and all my worldly appetites have faded, Among my pastimes, only tea-drinking hasn't yet lost its appeal. [i.e. 1107-1110] ), partially translated inBlofeld, op.cit. 34-37. Blofeld also introduces the stages for preparing tea adopted in the Song: ibid. 32-33. 2 4 The high quality of the tea and the clear ceremonial character of its preparation here suggest that tea-drinking should be classed as a cultural pursuit rather than a basic quenching of the thirst. Yet Ouyang deals with both the transcendent and quotidian sides of this activity. As I mentioned above, it is therefore difficult to draw a line between the everyday and the cultural in Ouyang's poetry. The reasons for this blurring of distinctions will become clearer as the chapter progresses. 2 5 In Ji vol.1, 2.36. Alternative title is \"Tea Song.\" 125 The valleys of Jian are extremely distant, and though I haven't been there, 4 Since my youth I've often encountered people of M i n 2 6 who boast: \"Whenever we sip any of the 'brewed grasses' of Jiang and Zhe, 2 7 We know they grow in messy clumps fit only for hiding snakes! They cannot compare with our moist balms and pervasive scents, formed into golden cakes, 8 With a pair of coiling dragons playfully added as a surprize.28 Along with these, the other grades are also rare and wonderful, The smaller they are, the more exquisite, and all are dewy shoots. Floating them, the \"white flowers\" are just like powdery milk, 12 You may catch a glimpse of the violet surface shining with radiant glow. Holding [the cakes] in your hand you'll love them; you won't be willing to grind them, They somewhat resemble printed seals with several complete indentations. 2 6 Min M refers to the Jian'an area in South East China. The word is still used in the name of the local dialect of Fujian and Taiwan, Minnan hua ^ Br5 (\"Southern Min dialect,\" often translated as \"Hokkien\"). 2 7 Jiang and Zhe was an administrative region corresponding to present eastern Jiangxi, all of Zhejiang and Fujian, and parts of Jiangsu and Anhui Provinces south of the Yangtze River. Elsewhere Ouyang describes the so-called \"grass tea\" (cao cha Jf\u00a3 ^ ) of the Liang Zhe region (i.e. present Zhejiang and parts of Eastern Jiangsu), the best of which was the Rizhu 0 \u00a3E brand until the Jingyou Reign period (1034-1038), when the \"white shoots of Double Wells at Hongzhou [in present Jiangxi Province],\" usually known as Double Wells Tea (Shuangjing cha f t # ^ ) , became the superior blend. See Ouyang's \"Notes on Returning to the Fields,\" Ji vol.3, 14.85. As for the \"snakes\" of the following line, an original note states: \"It's commonly said that today in the tea plantations of Jiang and Zhe there are numerous snakes.\" 2 8 Here, as in the previous poem, Ouyang, through his narrator, is doubtless describing the Little Dragon brand, a particularly select Jian'an tea. Elsewhere Ouyang notes that cakes of this tea \"are prized to such an extent that people in the Palace usually line their tops with a golden pattern\" (Ji vol.3, 14.97). And: \"People in the palace would cut gold [leaf or thread?] to make flowery cursive-script patterns of dragons and phoenixes, and fix them on [the cakes]. The eight families of [the ministers in] the two Secretariats [including Ouyang's family] were each allotted a portion to take home. We did not dare to grind [the tea] and taste it, but stored it away, considering it a precious treasure\" (Ji vol.2, 8.36-37). 126 It's said the powers of [this tea] are such, it can cure a hundred maladies, 16 And for losing weight, taken over time, it surely beats eating sesames!\" I must declare that claims like these are rather too extreme, In reality, it's most effective at driving off symptoms of sleep. The Tea Official, with a surplus from the tribute, happened to send me a portion, 20 The place is distant but the product still fresh: his generosity is fine.29 I boiled it myself and repeatedly poured: I just couldn't get enough, As I said to myself: \"Such joy is truly beyond all bounds!\" No-one mentioned that drinking too long would make my hands tremble, 24 Already I feel sick with hunger; my eyes are starting to blur. My guests suffer \"water problems\" and weary of lifting their bowls, Our mouths become no different from the toad that eats the moon! The servants and maids watch from the side, puzzled yet also amused, 28 This hobby is strange and eccentric; it's really something to moan about. And then, hearing poetic responses so strange as to be shocking, All my children add to the din with cries of \"Wah, wah, wah!\" If the first of the pair of poems concentrated on growing Jian'an tea, and then on brewing and appreciating it, this second work focuses more on the craftsmanship required to process the cakes of tea, and the physical and emotional effects of drinking it to excess. Again there is a witty juxtaposition: here a committed advocate of the tea of Jian'an \u2014 referred to as the region of Min in the poem (line 4) \u2014 spends the first half of the poem expanding on the excellence of its leaves, far superior to the snake-infested \u2014 i.e. bitter? 2 9 As I suggested, the Tea Official is probably Cai Xiang (1012-1067), then Governor of Jian'an \u2014 Ouyang refers to him as such in the first poem of this pair above. He was the first to send Jian'an tea as an annual tribute to the Emperor, and composed a Record of Tea explaining how to appreciate this variety. For this book, see below, note 30. 127 \u2014 brew produced further up the coast. Through this persona, Ouyang gives a quite detailed description of the appearance of the \"golden cakes\" of Jian'an tea (lines 7-8). Ouyang's friend Cai Xiang (1012-1068) was the Governor of Jian'an who sent him this tea, leftover from the annual tribute offered to the Emperor. In his \"Record of Tea,\" Cai explains the references in line 7 to \"moist balms and pervasive scents, formed into golden cakes\" as follows: \"As for the tea's colour, white is valued, but for caked tea normally one oils its surface with precious balms, and consequently there are green, yellow, violet and black varieties . . . Tea has its original fragrance, but those who send in the tribute mix a little 'dragon's brain' with the balm, intending to improve its scent.\"30 Thus Ouyang seems to have such scented \"white tea\" and judging by lines 8 and 14 of the poem, there is an embossed golden double-dragon design imprinted on the cakes.31 Continuing the eulogy in lines 11-12, the \"person of Min\" describes the appearance of the ground tea floating on the water \u2014 \"white flowers like powdery milk\" \u2014 and perhaps as the powder radiates to the edges of the bowl, it does resemble a \"radiant glow\" as he claims (line 12): this latter image seems a mixture of true appreciation of the beauty of \"white tea\" with the hyperbole of those who would promote the products of their home region. Moreover, not only does the tea look beautiful, it also has power to cure a hundred diseases, and helps people lose weight. How could one refuse such an endorsement? In the second half of the poem, Ouyang corrects this over-favorable picture by giving an excellent portrayal of himself as a gullible consumer who learns from experience that nothing is as good as it seems. With the advantage of hindsight, he claims that the tea advocate goes too far; that the only real effect of this tea is to make one too excited to 3 0 From Cai Xiang, ChaLu ^ $ i (Shanghai: Shangwu 1936) 1. \"Dragon's brain\" is a kind of tree (Dryobalanops aromatica) with a natural aromatic scent similar to sandalwood. 3 1 See note 28, where Ouyang refers to dragons and phoenixes. There, the \"gold\" is the colour of the design, not that of the tea itself. 128 sleep. To prove his point, he paints a hilarious picture of a refined social evening gone awry: \"No-one mentioned that drinking too long would make my hands tremble . . . \/My guests suffer 'water problems' and weary of lifting their bowls,\/Our mouths become no different from [that of] the toad that eats the moon!\" (lines 23, 25-26). Though physically they feel terrible, their minds are racing; their civilized poetry contest becomes an uncontrolled exchange of strange and shocking phrases. The servants snigger, the children wail with terror, and the whole evening dissolves into ugly and noisy pandemonium.32 The ending of this poem, with its reference to shocking one's family through strange phrases, is reminiscent of Han Yu's work \"Teeth Falling Out.\" 3 3 As Egan has pointed out, several of Ouyang's more \"extraordinary\" poems display the influence of this Tang poet.34 Yet Ouyang has extended Han Yu's hyperbolic treatment of everyday occurrences into a topic where one would not at first expect it. As the poem by Han Yu's friend Lu Tong, quoted above, illustrates, tea-drinking was previously associated more with other-worldly, mystical imagery than with domestic concerns. Here,.once again, 3 2 It is interesting to compare these conflicting reactions to tea with accounts of the drink's introduction into Europe from the 17th century onwards. Often such accounts are similarly tinged with patriotism or pride for one's homeland. For instance, in a poem praising Catherine of Braganza, the wife of the English King Charles II, and \"the first English tea-drinking queen,\" Edmund Waller (1606-1687) wrote: \"The Muse's friend, tea doth our fancy aid,\/Repress those vapours which the head invade,\/And keep the palace of the soul serene,\/Fit on her birthday to salute the Queen.\" The French were less enthusiastic. One A. Saint Arroman commented in 1846: \"The Englishman is naturally lymphatic; stuffed with beefsteaks and plum-pudding, he remains for two hours almost annihilated by the painful elaboration of the stomach; one might call him a boa quasi-asphyxiated by a gazelle that he has just swallowed. Tea alone can draw him from his lethargic sleep; it gives him gaiety, energy, warmth and loquacity. The Frenchman, of a nervous constitution, most usually experiences only fatal consequences from the use of tea, which is most injurious to him. The French ladies, especially, should avoid this drink, which occasions them painful spasms, whilst it merely shakes off moderately the indolence of the London ladies.\" Both quotations from Jamie Shalleck, Tea (New York: Viking Press 1972) 60 and 51 respectively. Shalleck gives several other equally entertaining examples. 3 3 See Qian Zhonglian, op.cit. vol.1, 171-174, esp. the last couplet: \"Then I make a poem from my singing,\/And take it to shock my wife and children!\" 3 4 See Egan 104-105. 129 Ouyang manages to include both reverence and \"low\" comedy within a single structure, an incongruous opposition of levels which reminds us that reality must remain part of transcendence; that the sublime and the down-to-earth must exist within a single frame. Secondly, Han Yu's more unusual poems tend to balance on the border between comedy and terror, and draw their powerful effect from the premonition of a world collapsing just behind the comic facade.35 Ouyang Xiu, by contrast, seems to avoid dealing with such cosmic fears in his poetry. Instead, particularly in his old-style poems, he displays an almost instinctive desire to balance one extreme with another: in the latest case above, Ouyang balances a devout eulogy to Jian'an white tea with a shocking account of its effects on his family and guests. To concentrate only on the destructive side of events would seem to him a narrow-minded approach. As I hope will become clearer, overarching all these varying perspectives struggling for supremacy is Ouyang's continual zest for discovery, for seeking out, or even creating, significance and structure in every aspect of his life, a venture which is, by definition, inclusive rather than one-sided.36 Although Ouyang's poetry uses wine imagery much more frequently than that of tea, it is remarkably difficult to find works specifically devoted to drinking wine, as 3 5 Apart from \"Teeth Falling Out\" (see note 33) which is rather a disturbing portrait of physical decay due to aging, examples might include \"Meng Dongye Loses a Son,\" in which Han Y u dreams of asking Heaven what was the reason for such a bereavement \u2014 Heaven answers by saying that life is meaningless \u2014 or \"First Eating Southern Food, Given to Eighteenth Yuan, Matching His Rhymes,\" where Han Yu is so terrified by a sinister-looking snake bought from the market that he releases it back to its watery home. See Qian Zhonglian, op.cit. vol.1, 675-679 and vol.2, 1132-1136 respectively. This view of Han Yu's disordered verse is influenced by J.D. Schmidt's article, \"Disorder and the Irrational in the Poetry of Han Y u , \" in Tang Studies 7 (1989) 137-167. Schmidt translates the poems by Han referred to here, along with some even stranger examples. 3 6 For some other poems on tea by Ouyang, see \"Double-Wells Tea\" and \"Matching Mei Gongyi's 'Tasting Tea'\" in Ji vol.1, 2.93 and 2.97. For a contrast with earlier tea poems, see the selection provided in the Ming scholar Chen Jiru's Chadongbujuan 2, 13-17, which gives several Tang compositions (appended to Cai Xiang, op.cit. See note 30 above). 130 opposed to those which mention the subject in passing. Most references to wine occur toward the end of poems meditating on his checkered career, or on the aging process \u2014 wine is one way to forget gloomy thoughts, and since life is short, we should take such pleasure while we can. An example of this kind of wine poem is the following, from 1059: Composed in answer to Secretary Liu Yuanfu: after you came over, at midnight wine was set out, and we went over our mixed records of past days' travels. Also sent to Mei Shengyu.37 A gentleman suddenly sought me out, But what is left in my poor home? An empty hall welcomes the clear breeze, 4 Fine fruits offer their unstrained wine. Our letters and writings record former pleasures, Debates and discussions mutually affirm and deny. You want to know those of whom we wrote? 8 Their bones are mostly long decayed. Since it is so for those who came before, Coming after, how can we last long? Thus it is that people of old declared: 12 \"Pass the cup, and do not stay your hand.\" This is a rather sombre poem, quite representative of Ouyang's more reflective aspect. The theme is a common one throughout the Chinese poetic tradition: thinking of those who have passed away, one realizes the inevitability of one's own end. The 3 7 Ji vol. 1, 2.38-39. Liu Yuarifu was the stylename of Liu Chang (1019-1068); Mei Shengyu, that of Mei Yaochen. 131 injunction to drink wine to drown such fatalistic thoughts, as Ouyang freely admits, originated with \"people of old.\" However, there are two related points which add to the poem's interest. First, there is the almost prose-like, argumentative diction utilized throughout the work, with some lines remarkable due to their conscious lack of elegance, for example lines 9-10: \"Since it is so for those who came before,\/Coming after, how can we last long?\" (qianzhe jiyiran, hou lai ning de jiu ffj # BjE E %. M ^ % X). Many of Ouyang's mature works adopt this plain style to a certain degree. Second, Ouyang takes on the persona of a poverty-stricken, humble fellow visited by the \"gentleman\" Liu. His home is \"poor\" and his hall \"empty;\" he can offer only a \"clear breeze\" \u2014 presumably it is the hot season \u2014 and home-made wine. Here, surely, is a touch of Ouyang's wit in an otherwise sober poem: at the time of writing, he was probably governor of the capital, Kaifeng, hence one can imagine how poor was his home!3 8 Both these characteristics suggest the influence of Tao Qian: were it not for the explanation in the lengthy title, Ouyang's poem would fit comfortably alongside the earlier poet's \"In the Jiyou Year [409 AD], Ninth Day of the Ninth Month:\" 3 9 Passing, passing, the autumn is already ending; Bleak, bleak, wind and dew combine. The spreading grasses no longer flourish; 4 Garden trees, bare, wither away. 3 8 Ouyang held the post of Kaifeng Governor until the second month of the 4th year of the Jiayou Reign period [1059], then took a succession of central government positions, gradually rising to one of the highest posts, Assistant Councillor in Charge of State Affairs, by the eleventh month of the following year. See James T.C. Liu, Ou-yang Hsiu 70; and Ji vol.1, nianpu 1.15-16. 3 9 See Wang Yao, ed., Tao Yuanmingji, op.cit. 41. Wang places the jiyou 3 M year in 409 AD. See another translation in J.R. Hightower, The Poetry of T'ao Ch 'ien (Oxford 1970) 119-120. 132 Pure air is clear with leftover moisture, In the vast distance, the horizon is high. Sad cicadas cease their echoing, 8 Flocks of geese cry in cloud and mist. Ten thousand transformations, changing in a moment, As for human life: is it not hard? From ancient times, all have passed away, 12 Dwelling on this, my inner heart burns. What can I use to express my emotion? Unstrained wine can give joy for now: A thousand years are beyond my understanding, 16 I'll just use it to make this morning eternal. Other poems by Ouyang involving wine also seem inspired by Tao Qian, and particularly by his spirit of calm acceptance of destiny. The pair of poems below echoes Tao's love for the chrysanthemum, a flower that manages to bloom in autumn, while most plants wither:4 0 Answering Professor Li: two seven-syllable poems [1067]4 1 (i) Ladling from the vat the unstrained wine, a fresh vintage is ready, Feeling the frost, only now do cold chrysanthemums blossom. 4 0 For an example of Tao's chrysanthemum poems, see \"Living at Leisure on the Ninth Day,\" in Wang, op.cit. 80, especially lines 9-10: \"Wine can reduce the hundred worries,\/Chrysanthemums know how to stop receding years.\" Also translated in Hightower, op.cit. 47-48. 4 1 In Ji vol. 1,2.114-115. 133 Cultivating cinnabar, the Daoist adept's face is smooth as jade, 4 Loving wine, the Mountain Duke is drunk as a muddy puddle.42 Don't be sad that sepals, following the bees, are plucked and gone, There still remains a fragrance, with butterflies coming to alight. And do not complain that school duties leave you idle and cold, 8 Here we can find a cup of fragrance to lift in toast together. (ii) Sitting together beside the railing, the sun about to slant down, Once more let us float golden sepals on flowing 'roseate clouds.' You wish to know a remedy to ward off lengthening years? 4 Just when the hundred plants wither, to see new blossoms emerge. Here, Ouyang has transcended the gloom of losing old friends, and the premonitions of his own death. It is interesting that this pair of poems was completed eight years after the one addressed to Liu Chang above; Ouyang is that much closer to mortality, yet seems content now to immerse himself in the joys of new wine and natural beauty 4 3 Wine thus becomes not a means to drown sorrows, but a symbol of renewal in a season when life is being extinguished. In this regard, the wine is inextricably joined with the autumn-blooming chrysanthemum. As frost descends, the chrysanthemums are at their 4 2 \"Mountain Duke\" is a literal translation of Shan Gong i l l and refers to the Jin Dynasty official Shan Jian i l l (253-312), famous for drinking wine and returning home in disarray. Ouyang compares himself to the man Shan, but also plays on the literal meaning of shan, \"mountain,\" to indicate his own love of peaks and valleys. See Shan Jian's biography appended to that of his father in Fang Xuanling [Tang], Jin shu (Zhonghua shuju 1974) 43.1229-1230. In the previous line, \"cinnabar\" (dan ft) was a powder used by Daoist alchemists in making elixirs to prolong their life. Ouyang compares Professor L i with such a Daoist, complimenting him on his youthful appearance! 4 3 This change of mood may be connected with his career: in 1067, Ouyang transferred from a Central to a provincial post, at Bozhou, substantially reducing his responsibilities (Ji vol.1, nianpu 1.22). 134 peak and the wine is just newly fermented (poem i, lines 1-2); as night comes \u2014 another portentous image \u2014 Ouyang and his friend again pluck some \"golden sepals\" from the flowers to float on the \"flowing roseate clouds\" of wine (poem ii, lines 1-2). They will drink the flower-wine mixture \u2014 the \"cup of fragrance\" \u2014 perhaps hoping to receive that same revitalizing power. Yet as Ouyang admits, the best kind of life-prolonging remedy is to see new blossoms emerge, just when the hundred plants wither (poem ii, line 4); in other words, to gain a spiritual inspiration from contemplating the rhythms of destruction and creation in nature. The first poem in particular gives a series of contrasting pairs, possibly to show how nature, in the midst of destroying, still displays creative power. Lines 5-6, with their unusual syntax, beautifully contrast the chrysanthemum sepals, taken away by the bees, with the flowers' fragrance remaining to attract butterflies \u2014 the colourful, flower-like butterfly doubtless covers over the bare patches on the real plants: \"Don't be sad that sepals, following the bees, are plucked and gone\/There still remains a fragrance, with butterflies coming to alight.\" The placement of the verbs at the end of each line emphasises the opposition \u2014 sepals plucked and gone; butterflies coming to alight \u2014 with the latter enduring. Similarly, in lines 7-8, Ouyang contrasts the cold and aimless school duties of Professor L i , spending an evening alone, with the warmth and conviviality of a shared drink of chrysanthemum wine. Thus the natural joys of life, wine, flower-appreciation and friendship, are enough to overcome approaching winter cold. Finally, there is an implicit contrast running through both poems between Professor L i , depicted as a practitioner of the Daoist art of prolonging life through imbibing alchemical potions, and Ouyang himself, a literatus seeking solace in drunkenness. In the end, the true method for prolonging life, he implies, lies neither in excessive alcohol consumption nor in mixing cinnabar-based elixirs, but rather in being open to the creative resources of the natural world. 135 There are two general themes emerging from this pair of wine poems which display affinities with Ouyang's poems on tea. Firstly, with regard to his late poetry \u2014 that composed from about 1067 onwards \u2014 Ouyang increasingly becomes fascinated with Daoist recluses, or any of that group of people who avoided ordinary society and preferred to live alone in mountain caves and other isolated places. Although the subject of these wine poems, L i , is referred to as \"professor,\" he is clearly a Daoist practitioner too. Similarly, above Ouyang recorded making a gift of tea to another \"Practitioner of the Way\" called Xu, who even visited him in 1068. Among his later works are the names of several other recluse figures, usually also referred to as daoshi i l l dt, with whom Ouyang was in contact.44 By this stage, he finally seems to have realized that his career had brought him little but trouble, and that the true joys of life, if not consisting necessarily in esoteric alchemical practices, were at least best sought away from the ambition and dust of the capital. Hence, whether the topic of his poem is wine, tea, flowers or mountains, the reader will sense in most of these later compositions a turning away from public life and urban society towards simple rustic pleasures. Nevertheless, I feel that such sentiments do not indicate a complete change of perspective on life. Ouyang continues to value the natural process over the forced methods of alchemy and the like; moreover, as I noted in the biographical sketch above, his attitude to official life has been ambivalent since at least the early 1050s. Perhaps it is rather the death of most of his close friends which explains the sheer predominance of this introverted poetry revolving around reclusive themes. Already in the first wine poem above, addressed to Liu Chang and Mei Yaochen and composed in 1059, Ouyang was mourning the loss of people mentioned in his earlier writings; since then, Mei had passed 4 4 See for example the poems entitled \"County Magistrate of Fugou, Zhou Zhifang, Recorded Showing Me the Poem Given by Talented Elder Su Zimei to the Daoist Huang . . .\" (Ji vol.1, 2.115), \"Training a Deer\" (ibid. 2.57), and \"Teasing the Recluse of Shitang Mountain\" (ibid. 2.58), among others. 136 away in 1060, Cai Xiang, the \"Tea Official,\" followed in 1067 and Liu Chang died the next year. A second common feature displayed in these works on wine and tea drinking, which still emerges in spite of the dissolution of Ouyang's social circle, is a determination to seek out the creative power latent in the everyday world. Perhaps it is true that normally Ouyang was forced by his busy schedule to gulp down his tea and wine without much thought of their origins or deeper associations. Yet one feels that, whenever time permitted and friends were gathered together, he would strive to reveal a profound, even ritual, significance in ordinary social intercourse. Hence tea contains enormous resources for spiritual refreshment due to its early sprouting when other plants still slumber; similarly, autumn wine mixed with chrysanthemums symbolizes the strength to bloom and ripen when all else is withering; thirdly, even the social gathering within which these activities take place, no matter how vulgar or rowdy its participants become, can be elevated into a significant occurrence through the craft and structuring of poetry.45 It is unlikely that Ouyang really believed in a beneficial magical force unleashed after drinking certain natural substances. His \"Another Composition, Matching the Rhymes\" above mocks any such outlandish claims by giving a picture of what we might call caffeine-inspired disorder. Nevertheless, he acts as a strong advocate for the imaginative power of both poetic symbols and natural objects themselves to transform daily activities into profound events. Having drawn some parallels between Ouyang's tea and wine poems, I will conclude this section with two longer works concerning wine. Both suggest that the unique characteristic of wine for Ouyang, as for innumerable poets before and since, was still its ability to console, or to numb the effects of sorrow, whether his own or that of others. At the same time, like the poems above, both works apparently display more belief 4 5 This last point about poetry is implied by the content of these works rather than directly stated. Below are several compositions which praise the transforming power of poetry. 137 in the creative, imaginative power of particular plants, and the sustaining, mood-transforming possibilities of poetry, than they do in wine alone. The first work again treats the chrysanthemum and should need little prior explanation, except to point out the carefully delineated time progression from \"recently\" (line 1) to \"this morning\" (line 7) \u2014 a technique similar to the comparison of successive mountains in several poems of the previous chapter. Composed on meeting for a drink at Shengyu's house; also presented to Yuanfu, Jingren and Shengcong [ 1059]4 6 I remember recently when I visited you on the festival of the ninth, 4 7 We happened to see before the terrace two bushes of chrysanthemums. I loved them, and wished to circle them at least a hundred times, 4 But beneath your hall there wasn't even room to place my feet. Plucking a flower I withdrew to my seat, sniffing it now and then, Inebriated I returned home, my hands still sweetly scented. This morning, once again, I pay a visit to your house, 8 The two chrysanthemums before the terrace still oppose their clumps. But the withered stems and wilted leaves have suffered from wind and frost, No longer are the bushes filled with gold interspersed with green. In the capital, every family tries to cultivate blossoms, 12 Emerald terraces and crimson columns open on flowery rooms. 4 6 In Ji vol. 1, 2.43-44. For Shengyu and Yuanfu, see n.37 above; Jingren was the stylename of Fan Zhen $L H (1008-1088) one of those who accompanied Ouyang grading the civil service examinations of 1057.1 have not yet discovered to whom Shengcong (H W) refers. 4 7 Though Ouyang simply writes \"on the ninth day,\" it is likely that he means the Double Ninth Festival, i.e. the 9th day of the 9th month in the traditional Chinese calendar. Tao Qian had earlier famously associated this festival with viewing chrysanthemums and drinking wine: one of his poems uses the same term to refer to the festival (see n.40 above; and cf. the work referred to in n.39, where Tao adds the month). 138 So why on earth do we come here to face two withered stalks? Together we sit beneath the eaves,48 extremely narrow and cramped. The Poet Elder's compositions send out Heavenly flowers, 16 They can't be compared to the greens and reds of common plants and trees! Common plants remain in bloom for only a matter of days, Heavenly flowers need no roots; they're always before one's eyes. So, every time I come to drink at your house, they make me 20 Lie down at the corner of the wall, unaware of the tall wine-bottles. The other guests are youngsters, all of them worthy and free of care, Don't think me unusual, now that I'm going bald at the temples. You must know that rosy young faces will not last very long, 24 If there's wine, you ought to enjoy i t , 4 9 and urge each other on. Although on one level Ouyang seems to paint a bleak portrait of himself \u2014 an old fellow giving unheeded warnings to the surrounding youngsters of the inexorable process of aging and decline \u2014 I feel that the poem contains too many humorous details and flashes of wit to be classed as fatalistic. Rather, he is adopting another self-caricaturing persona who, in his very ingenious exaggeration, reveals a mind still sharp, and a persevering spirit. For instance, in line 3, he borrows a trope from one of Han Yu's \"Plum Blossoms, Two Poems\": \"I loved them, and wished to circle them at least a hundred times.\"50 However, Mei Yaochen being a rather lowly official, his terrace is diminutive, 4 8 \"Beneath the eaves,\" or more literally \"at the edge of the eaves\" (qiongyan l i t Since .yaw can also mean a kind of waterside terrace, this phrase could be translated \"the edge of the terrace (by the water);\" but Ouyang mentions no water in this poem, and uses another word for Mei's terrace (jietg) in lines 8 and 2, hence \"eaves\" seems more likely here. 4 9 A variant gives: \"If there's wine, you ought to drink i t . . .\" 5 0 Han Yu's couplet, in which the plum tree is hurt that he hasn't visited sooner, goes: \"I ask it [the plum tree] but it's unwilling to say the reason,\/So alone I circle it a hundred times until the sun is setting.\" See Qian Zhonglian, op.cit. vol.2, 777-781, poem 1,11. 5-6. 139 and Ouyang's romantic impulse cannot be realized: \"But beneath [his] hall, there wasn't even room to place my feet!\" He retreats to his seat, having to make do with plucking a flower and occasionally sniffing it; unexpectedly this contingency gives him more lasting pleasure since, on the way home, drunk, his hands still bear the sweet scent of chrysanthemum. The next section (lines 7-14) begins very bleakly \u2014 today even the late-blooming chrysanthemums have withered \u2014 but the caricature is reasserted as Ouyang portrays himself ignoring all the luxurious and spacious indoor flower gardens of the rich, instead coming \"to face two withered stalks,\" and sitting together with Mei \"beneath the eaves, extremely narrow and cramped!\" (lines 13-14). In the third section (lines 15-20) we discover that all this talk of Mei's poverty, and the desolate bleakness of his early winter garden, though perhaps containing a kernel of truth, is in fact a hyperbolic foil to offset the brilliance of Mei's writings: the works of Mei, the \"Poet Elder,\" are \"Heavenly flowers\"; unlike ordinary flowers, which wither in a matter of days, such Heavenly flowers \"need no roots,\" so are \"always before one's eyes.\" Thus, though Ouyang comes ostensibly to have a drink at Mei's place, he ends up \"lying down at the corner of the wall,\" oblivious to the wine-bottles \u2014 presumably lost in admiration at Mei ' s poetic talents.51 The poem concludes with Ouyang's persona urging the younger guests to drink up and enjoy themselves while they have their youth, since growing old, they'll probably become as eccentric and ridiculous as himself. Thus, as in the long poems on tea above, so here comedy and caricature work to transform an ugly, or pathetic, situation into a bearable, and even meaningful, artwork. In fact, he seems inebriated not by wine, but by poetry. 140 The final poem in this group concerned with wine deals with a different plant, meihua $ | ffi (\"flowering apricot,\" usually translated as \"flowering plum\"). 5 2 Varieties of this tree are native to central China, particularly the Yangtze River region, hence Ouyang encountered apricot blossom during his first exile in Yiling (once also known as Xiling) in the second half of the 1030s.53 The apricot is famous for flowering in late winter, even while snow still covers the ground. Many Song dynasty poets developed a strong attachment to the tree, and composed numerous eulogies to its mysterious, cold-enduring strength, and to the exquisite delicacy of the pink tinting on its blossoms, which barely distinguished them from the surrounding snow. 5 4 Here, Ouyang, probably now living in Huazhou (in present Henan Province, north of the capital Kaifeng), matches the rhymes of a poem by one \"Master X u . \" 5 5 Ouyang, as 5 2 The Latin name of this plant is prunus mume, and the more correct English name should be \"Japanese apricot.\" See H . L . L i , The Garden Flowers of China (New York: Ronald Press 1959) 48-56. However, it would be rather odd to call a plant rooted in the Chinese poetic tradition \"Japanese.\" \"Flowering apricot\" seems a suitable compromise. Previous translators have all used \"plum,\" as far as I am aware. 5 3 Yiling: present Yichang, Hubei Province. Judging by his memories in the poem below, Ouyang also saw the tree in the Luoyang area (present Henan Province) in the early 1030s. 5 4 For two sets of fine quatrains on the flowering apricot by Su Shi (1036-1101) see Wang Wengao et al, ed., Su Shi ship (Beijing 1982) vol.6, 1735ff. (\"Ten Poems Matching the Rhymes of Fengyi Yang Gongji's Apricot Blossoms\") and vol.6, 1746ff. (\"Ten Quatrains Again Matching Yang Gongji's Apricot Blossoms\"). See also my unpublished paper \"Su Shi and the Flowering Apricot\"; cf. an article by Hans Frankel, \"The Plum in Chinese Poetry,\" in Asiatische Studien (Bern 1952) vol.6, 88-115. 5 5 The poem is undated, but placed between works dated 1042 and 1043 (see n.56 below for reference). There are at least two other undated works (Ji vol.1, 6.67 \"Rejoicing at Snow, Shown to Master Xu ; \" and ibid. 6.64, \"Seeing Off Master X u to Become Judge at Xiuzhou\") in the same part of the collection which refer to Master Xu (Xu sheng % ^E). Later, from around 1049, Ouyang consistently addresses one of his students, Xu Wudang (fl. 1040-1060) as Master X u (e.g. in his prose farewell \"Seeing Off Xu Wudang Returning South\" of 1054 [Ji vol.1, 5.66-67] and his poem \"During the Dog Days of Summer, Presented to Masters Xu and Jiao,\" of 1049 [ibid. 2.8-9]). It is not clear how long Xu Wudang was a formal student of Ouyang, but there are two letters from Ouyang to X u which probably both date from the early 1040s. The second is dated 1043. (Ji vol.2, 8.72-73). In these Ouyang mentions that he has recently returned to the capital \u2014 his posting to Huazhou lasted only a few months, from late 1042 to early 1043 \u2014 and regrets 141 is his wont, embraces two distinct topics. First, he revives his own memories of the apricot blossoms amidst snow, triggered by the \"pure poem\" Xu has given him, and enters an almost visionary state of clear tranquillity towards the centre of the work. Second, having reawoken to the harsh present reality of a northern winter, with sand and snow, but not a blossom in sight, he realizes just how powerful was the effect of Xu's poem. In gratitude, he offers encouragement in return, also in the form of poetic lines, promising Xu that spring warmth will soon replace the cold, and until then, drinking wine is a good way to become oblivious to the weather outside. Thus, once again wine remains in the background of a poem on endurance through difficult circumstances, and again it is combined with a blossoming flower and mood-changing poetry. Matching \"Facing the Snow, Recalling Plum Blossoms\" [early 1043?].56 Once I was posted to Xiling, amidst the River Gorges, Wild flowers, in reds and violets, luxuriantly abounded. Only a cold apricot tree remained among former acquaintances, 4 In that strange region, whenever I saw her I felt a lingering attachment. Moved, I considered the blossoms to be natives of Central L u o , 5 7 But on these blossoms, birds of Shu cried in melancholy strains. In those days I composed poems, but who was there to respond? 8 The powdery sepals plucked themselves, their pure fragrance dense. that he and X u cannot enjoy themselves together as in the previous year. He also comments on Xu's writing style. Hence, I assume that Ouyang was with Xu Wudang in Huazhou, where they exchanged some poems including this one, and from that time X u became Ouyang's informal student, if only by correspondence at first. This information is important for deciding Ouyang's location in the poem. 5 6 In Ji, vol.1, 6.67-68. 5 7 The region around Luoyang. Shu in the next line usually refers to the area around present Sichuan Province, but here seems to mean South-West China. 142 Nowadays, I clutch wine and face the remaining snow, Yet still I recall, above the River, the tall towers and mountains.58 With massed flowers in all four seasons \u2014 beauties in their throngs \u2014 12 Why was it only this tree which made one want to select her? In depths of winter, ten thousand trees stand erect, withered and dead, Her jade beauty blossoms alone, enduring the clear cold. Her fresh charm is dazzling white like a face seen in the mirror, 16 With graceful bearing she faces you: an immortal in the breeze. What a shame that the northern lands lack such a tree, Snow and hailstones drive across the level sands and streams. Master Xu came with me as a sojourner in this prefecture, 20 Midst ice and frost, in a traveller's lodge, we welcomed in the New Year. Remembering flowers, facing the snow, he rose early and seated himself: His pure poem is a precious weapon to carve out stones of jade. The scenery of the long River 5 9 will soon be moved by warmth, 24 Before long you'll watch green willows, spring mist among them. In a cold studio, solitary, what means of present consolation? A morning drink will make you tipsy and you'll sleep content all afternoon! There are two further details worth mentioning in this poem, both of which have appeared in Ouyang's other compositions. The personification of tea plants was a feature of the work \"Tasting New Tea, Presented to Shengyu.\" Here, an extended parallel is made between apricot blossoms and a beautiful female immortal, increasing the visionary implications of seeing flowers when all around is barren (lines 14-16). Secondly, as in 5 8 The \"River\" Qiang ZL) in this line refers to the Yangtze, which flowed through Xiling (Yiling). 5 9 Here Ouyang uses the character he M , referring to the Yellow River running through the region of his present posting, Huazhou. 143 several of his other poems, Ouyang covers an extensive period of time during this poem: he includes his own past memories of Yiling and the flowering apricot; he then imagines Xu's more recent feelings during the New Year festival, which inspired Xu's poem (lines 21-22); interspersed with these past events are glimpses of Ouyang's own present situation (lines 9, 17-18); and finally, he envisions the future arrival of spring in Huazhou (lines 23-24). Hence, through the use of imagination, Ouyang is able to include a wide range of events occurring through time along with their corresponding moods, thereby once again suggesting the variety and complexity of human experience. It is noteworthy that in this case, only three lines of a quite lengthy poem describe his present observations: the rest is all memory and imagination. Ouyang's poems on both tea and wine often lead the reader to a world of natural creative power occurring in the midst of destruction. Whether this world is the source of the drink, as in the case of tea-leaves, or merely combines the appreciation of particular plants with drinking, as with many wine poems, Ouyang manages in these works to transform a common activity into a spiritually significant and inspiring event. Also apparent in several of these poems is Ouyang's talent for caricature and humour \u2014 another kind of transformative technique in which painful or difficult circumstances in real life become somehow meaningful when expressed in an artistic, witty manner. Finally, poetry writing itself features frequently in these works \u2014 poetry, it seems, is what will endure, like a \"Heavenly flower,\" even when the momentary pleasures of the activities recorded have long since passed from consciousness. Food Discussion of drinking would seem incomplete without an offering of food to accompany it. Next I will turn to the poems Ouyang composed after eating various novel dishes. As 144 with his poems on tea and wine, there are relatively few works specifically on this subject, but they include some of his most entertaining compositions. I will begin with a humorous work which once again exemplifies Ouyang's skill at opening up an enormous imaginary world from remarkably unpromising material. The subject is a so-called \"bulgy-headed fish\" (datouyu j | i | \u00a7 which apparently enjoyed some popularity in Kaifeng dining rooms around the late 1050s: Offered in Answer to Shengyu's Poem on the Bulgy-Headed Fish [1058].6 0 I've heard that, regarding the ocean's greatness, The species of creatures are truly innumerable. Insects and shrimps stay among the shallows, 4 Sea-snails and shellfish pile up like mountains; \"Hairy fish\" and \"Deers' Antlers\":6 1 In one pint are hundreds of thousands. As for harvesting, each has its season, 8 Consumption isn't limited to north or south. If the tiny creatures resemble those above, The large ones include the utterly unfathomable. Midst the vastness of breaker and wave, 12 An \"island\" rises for just a moment. In an instant it sinks, seen no longer, Now, you discover, it was a creature's protruding spine! 6 0 In Ji vol. 1,2.44. 6 1 1 cannot find \"hairy fish\" in any reference work, though there is a \"hairy prawn\" (maoxia % $H) which Ouyang may refer to. As for the \"deers' antlers\" (lujiao fHfil), its locus classicus seems to be this poem! It is defined as \"a small variety of fish\" in the Zhongwen dacidian, op.cit., which then quotes this line. Yet the \"antlers\" suggest some kind of star-fish whose tentacles resemble a stag's horns. Further research is necessary to clarify this point. 145 Sometimes it is beached, coming up with the tide, 16 Violently it dies, as if suffering exile. Coastal dwellers call each other together, With knives and saws, they struggle to hack and slice. Shockingly, the segments of bones fill a cart, 20 The points of its whiskers are sharp as swords and halberds.62 The stink is perceptible for several tens of miles, The lingering odour does not disperse for an age. Now I know that where hundreds of rivers return, 24 There must be a power of latent capacity; Sunken rarities and secret treasures: Ten thousand forms not readily understood.63 Alas, the minuteness of your bulgy-headed [fish], 28 Who transported it to the nation's capital? Dry and withered, with hardly any flavour, When prepared and washed, it's a waste to fry it up! From this I know there are extraordinary creatures, 32 But is it worthy to offer to fine guests? Yet one morning we received your poem, And from that time its false reputation was made!64 6 2 The reference to sharp whiskers, or tusks, indicates a walrus rather than a whale, though it must be a particularly large one. 6 3 Or \"not understandable in only one way\" (buyi shi ^ ~* WO-6 4 An original note explains that people in the capital didn't know of this fish until a provincial official sent some up from the coast, and Mei Yaochen managed to obtain a portion. See also Ouyang's letter to Mei, dated 1057, in which it is clear that it was Ouyang who gave Mei the fish (Ji vol.3, 17.47). Mei must have responded with a poem, apparently no longer extant, which Ouyang answers here. 146 Although this poem does not purport to be more than a comic deflation of the undeserved popularity of the bulgy-headed fish, there is perhaps a more serious point lurking beneath the surface, namely that, like the fish, petty people also too easily gain a fine reputation in the capital, while those of infinitely greater talent and profundity are left in distant \"oceans,\" unknown and unrecognized until they are washed up dead on the beach. In several of the poems treated above on tea and wine drinking, Ouyang juxtaposes high philosophical truths with everyday, even vulgar, concrete details, giving a deliberately incongruous effect. Here, he extends the technique into a full-blown parody of academic argumentation, venturing to \"prove\" that the bulgy-headed fish is hardly worth considering. He begins from his own experience \u2014 what he has \"heard\" (line 1) \u2014 listing all the small sea creatures he can think of, and claiming that even a \"pint\" of sea-water contains hundreds of thousands of them (line 6). Then he progresses to the other extreme, the case of the walrus, so huge when it surfaces that it resembles an island \u2014 until it sinks down once more to the depths. To prove his claim that the bulgy-headed fish belongs to the masses of tiny, insignificant sea-creatures, he extends the hyperbolic description of the walrus over twelve lines (11-22) \u2014 more than the eight lines he grudgingly gives to the fish itself. Moreover, he drives his point home through the use of indirect illustration. Hence, when the walrus dies on the beach, he depicts a crowd of local people \"hacking and slicing\" with knives and saws (lines 17-18); even the sections of bone fill a cart, and the \"whiskers,\" or tusks, are sharp as \"swords and halberds\" (lines 19-20). In these two lines, Ouyang adds to the incongruity by utilizing historical allusions, yet applying them in rather inappropriate ways: the first line has its source in the \"Conversations of the States\" (Guoyu 13 In): \"Wu attacked Yue and caused Kuaiji [City] to fall; as for the bones they found there, the segments filled a cart.\"6 5 When such an image of the casualties of war is 6 5 See Wolfgang Bauer, Guoyuyinde (Taipei 1973) 2.51, columns 2 and 5. This is in the \"Conversations of Lu, part 2\" section. 147 transferred to the description of a walrus carcass, one must surely treat it as educated black humour. Similarly with line 20 \u2014 \"The points of its whiskers are sharp as swords and halberds\" \u2014 which borrows a simile \u2014 \"whiskers like halberds\" \u2014 used, as in the \"History of the Southern [Kingdoms]\" (Nanshi iM Jsrl), to describe the appearance of a person with an aura of strength and authority.66 Here Ouyang takes advantage of the length of the walrus' tusks to use the simile in its more literal sense. Finally, in order to make the enormous creature lodge in the reader's memory, Ouyang finishes this section with a grotesque image: \"The stink is perceptible for several tens of miles;\/The lingering odour does not disperse for an age\" (lines 21-22). With this smell still lingering in our noses, Ouyang immediately jumps back to the high philosophical tone of the opening: \"Now I know that where hundreds of rivers return\/There must be a power of latent capacity\/Sunken rarities and secret treasures:\/Ten thousand forms not readily understood.\" Now turning grudgingly to the bulgy-headed fish, Ouyang bemoans the fact that not only does it lack flavour, but that after preparing and washing it, there's virtually no meat left worth cooking. It would be embarrassing to offer so little to one's guests. Coming on the heels of the shocking vision of the walrus carcass, with surrounding crowds of people \"struggling to hack and chop,\" and bones filling cartloads, Ouyang's dismissal of the tiny fish is particularly biting. Hence his comment that only Mei Yaochen's poetry could have made the fish's reputation might be construed as a left-handed compliment. Yet, as I have noted above, Ouyang too takes great delight in choosing the most unpromising subject matter and creating from it fascinating poetry. Once again he has succeeded in removing the reader from a small, dead object to its source in the huge ocean environment, teeming with all manner of living creatures \u2014 from the miniscule to 6 See L i Yanshou [Tang], Nanshi (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju 1975) 749, col.4, part of Biography of Zhu Yanhui.\" 148 the immeasurable \u2014 and once again he animates an inanimate object by utilizing his fertile imagination.67 There are at least two characteristics of Ouyang's other poems about foods which are not represented in the \"Bulgy-headed Fish\" work, except in a very indirect way. Firstly, food usually brings to Ouyang's mind the problem of correct government, and especially the effects of government on ordinary people. No doubt his time as an official in less prosperous, outlying mountain regions impressed on him the difficulties of merely harvesting sufficient food for the local inhabitants, let alone providing taxes in kind to the Imperial court and sending up delicacies for the tables of public officials in the capital. Secondly, and related to the first characteristic, Ouyang frequently reiterates his preference for simple, plainer foods \u2014 even those which at first taste bitter \u2014 consumed in beautiful natural surroundings with one's close friends, over the most elegant, carefully prepared dishes gulped down with a crowd of ambitious colleagues in the over-decorated capital. The bulgy-headed fish is perhaps an example of such a \"delicacy,\" undeserving of its reputation, but eaten because it is the latest fashion. This second feature doubtless connects with the larger theme of longing for retirement from the worries and responsibilities of high office \u2014 a recurrent idea in Ouyang's poetry from the 1050s onwards. Yet allowing for these two characteristics, Ouyang manages to vary the style and specific content of each poem to suit its particular foodstuff, and he tempers the moralistic injunctions with wit and touches of humour, never losing sight of the need for aesthetic, as well as moral, appeal. For example, the following poem portrays a dish made from a kind of large clam, whose name translates literally as \"cart pincers\" (ju 'ao JpL H).68 Perhaps 6 7 1 am thinking especially of Ouyang's poems on inkstones, stone screens and the like, some of which I translated in the previous chapter. His personification of plants, like tea and flowering apricot, involves a similar dynamic. 6 8 The incomprehensibility of this literal translation, and the fact that in line 25-26 Ouyang gives ao II or e M (\"moth\") as its alternative names, suggest that this is a phonetic 149 only Ouyang Xiu would see this topic as the cue for a historical summary of the Five Dynasties period and the Song reunification! Yet it is true that without the relative stability of the Song court, and its elaborate system of transportation linking disparate parts of the Empire, Ouyang and his guests would be deprived of many of their favourite dishes. The wit of the poem, however, lies in his implication that all these immense historical developments, on this particular occasion, are merely preliminaries to the arrival of the main subject, a plate of clams, on his table. As if to emphasize the narrow-mindedness of such a perspective \u2014 which many Kaifeng dwellers probably held without reflection \u2014 Ouyang finishes with a characteristically satirical juxtaposition of the diners, so greedy for the tasty clams that \"struggling to be first they often erupt into quarrels,\" and \"old men by the sea,\/Painfully digging [for clams] in the mud and sand.\" Eating Ju'ao Clams for the First Time [1056].6 9 Piled up high, clams on the plate, They come from the furthest reaches of the sea. The guests at first don't recognize them at all, 4 But after a taste, at once they sigh \"Aah!\" The Five Dynasties were once divided and separate, The Nine Regions were chopped up like a melon.7 0 The South-East was bounded by Huai [River] and ocean, 8 Distant and cut off from the nation's capital.71 transcription of a dialect word. The southern origin of the creature supports this hypothesis. Hence my phonetic rendering in the body of the poem. 6 9 In Ji vol.1, 2.25. Also in Xuanji 161-162. A variant title adds \"in the capital.\" 7 0 Nine Regions refers to China. 7 1 The Huai River ran through what is now south-east Henan and central Anhui Provinces, slightly north of the Yangtze River, i.e. dividing South-East China from the North. The \"nation's capital\" is literally Yi-hua M Yimen 0k P I \"the gate of Yi\") was another name for Kaifeng, the Northern Song capital; Hua usually designated those of the Han race inhabiting the North China Plain since ancient times. 150 At that time, people of northern regions, Would eat and drink with unsurpassed crudeness. Chicken and suckling pig tasted rare to them, 12 They lacked all standards of noble and base. But since the time a Sage emerged, Al l under Heaven have become one family.7 2 Southern produce crosses Jiao and Guang, 7 3 16 Western delicacies enrich Qiong and Ba. Transporting by water, boats crowd stern to prow, The overland routes shake with carts loaded high: Creatures from the creeks with fine furry coats, 20 And ocean monstrosities with hefty tusks and teeth. Are they merely for the noble dukes and lords? Even cramped alleyways are stuffed with fish and shrimps! Now these clams have finally arrived, 24 Their coming is certainly rather tardy! \"Ao\" or one hears both names,74 They've long been praised by people from the South. Shiny and dazzling, their shells are like jade, 28 Ornately dotted, with vivid flowery patterns. They hold their meat, unwilling to disgorge it, But touched by the fire, suddenly open wide. 7 2 The Sage being Emperor Taizu (r.960-976), founder of the Song. 7 3 Ancient names for the southern region covered by Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces today, already an anachronism in Ouyang's time. Qiong and Ba, in line 16, covered mostly present Sichuan Province, South-West China. 7 4 A note adds: \"For ju 'ao, another name is ju 'e.\" 151 Eating together, we only fear being left behind, 32 Struggling to be first, we often erupt in quarrels. Our only delight is to praise them without ceasing, No-one thinks twice about the distance they've come! My heartfelt gratitude to the old men by the sea, 36 Painfixlly digging them from mud and sand. Tacked onto the end of a long poem which basically praises the achievements of the Song government, the last couplet seems to express more Ouyang's personal gratitude to the anonymous people who have made the effort to find these clams, rather than true social protest. Unlike Mei Yaochen, Ouyang's poetic oeuvre contains very few such works; the poem entitled \"Dregs Eaters\" (Shizao min # If of 1050, is one of the rare direct attacks on social injustice which I can recall. 7 5 Ouyang's view of life in the countryside is generally a much more idyllic, pastoral one than Mei's, and he consciously contrasts rural joys with the complex scheming and petty personal rivalries encountered daily in the capital. However, Ouyang does address more frequently the larger issues involved in government, such as the necessity to treat the people fairly, and the need for leaders to be open to constructive criticism. I will conclude with three more poems on food topics which illustrate Ouyang's continual oscillation between deep concern for just government, and his longing to leave the capital and be freed from political responsibility. The first work, entitled \"Olives,\" 7 6 is an almost undisguised allegory, which were it not for the clever use of rhyme and metaphor, might lack literary interest. In English it is 7 5 Translated by Burton Watson in Yoshikawa 70-71. Original text in Ji vol. 1, 2.8. Also in Xuanji 142. 7 6 In Ji vol. 1, 2.7. Also in Xuanji p. 141, from which the date is taken. The word \"olive\" is a translation of ganlan jj$ $t, whose botanical name is Canarium album, in contrast to the European and Middle Eastern olive, Olea europaea. For partial translation of another poem on olives by Wang Yucheng (954-1001), see Jonathan Chaves, op.cit. 126. 152 impossible to retain the harsh rhymes of the second half of the poem \u2014 most of which are expletives and interrogatives \u2014 but I will attempt to suggest their import in the translation. They transform the poem itself into a literary olive: harsh at first, but on reflection, artistically satisfying! O\/\/ves[1050] The five elements occupy the four seasons, And it is fire which abounds towards the South. Scorching heat passes over the spirit of wood, 4 And the olive receives it to the greatest degree.77 The sour and the bitter do not readily mix, First they struggle; at length reach harmony. Their frosty buds enter the Central regions, 8 Come ten thousand miles on river waves. With luck they'll be elevated to a gentleman's banquet, Allowed to line up with the assembled fruits. In Central regions, the assembled fruits are excellent: 12 Round pearls, and shining white jades. What a shame, this slight, ugly substance, Coming such a distance, doesn't receive a \"Huh!\" 7 8 7 7 For a summary of the theory that certain directions, and the flora and fauna living there, are influenced by the dominant \"element\" in that region, see Joseph Needham, Science and Civilization in China, vol.2 (Cambridge 1956) esp. 261-262. Needham's Table 12 on these pages gives the following combinations: fire goes with summer, the south, and bitterness; wood goes with spring, the east and sourness. Hence, the olive combines the sourness of wood and the \"bitterness\" of the southern region in which it grows (line 5) to produce its unique flavour. 7 8 He fSf, an exclamation expressing censure: one of Ouyang's harsh rhymes. In other words, the olive is completely ignored, since people don't dare to taste a strange-looking object from so far away. 153 Syrup is sweet for boys and girls, 16 But at length its aftertaste: what about that? Good medicine isn't sweet in the mouth, Yet its benefits are clear on a serious grippe. Sincere words, though at first one detests them, 20 When the thing happens, what a regret! The world now lacks a Poetry Collector, So my poem complete, I'll hum it for you. The last four lines of the poem clearly have a political reference. \"Sincere words\" (line 19) are usually those of a minister to a ruler, for instance in the pre-Qin legalist work Han Feizi $t ^ ~? : \"Sincere words go against one's ears, but the enlightened ruler, hearing them, knows they can be used to extend his achievements.\"79 The Poetry Collector, of line 21, was a legendary official said to have been sent out by ancient rulers to record folksongs of ordinary people, thus discerning their attitude to the government. The Classic of Poetry (Shijing If M) was traditionally treated as a collection of such folksongs; the Master Mao commentaries on the collection were the first in a line of works interpreting all the poems as having political reference, even those which today are generally accepted as simple songs of love and agricultural life. 8 0 7 9 From Han Feizi: Waichu shuozuo shang chapter: see Tang Jingzhao and L i Shi'an, eds., Han Feizi jiaozhu (Jiangsu renmin chubanshe 1982) 370. This same passage also mentions medicine: \"Good medicine is bitter in the mouth, but one who is wise can be persuaded to drink it, knowing that once ingested, it will bring an end to his illness\" (ibid.). 8 0 For a historical survey of these commentaries from pre-Qin to Song Dynasties, see Steven van Zoeren, Poetry and Personality: Reading, Exegesis and Hermeneutics in Traditional China (Stanford 1991). Van Zoeren notes that Ouyang Xiu was one of the first scholars to treat several of the poems simply as folksongs, rather than attempting, without any evidence, to tie them to weighty historical events (ibid. 159-189). 154 Nevertheless, these hints of political intent do not necessarily restrict the poem to a single interpretation \u2014 that, for instance, Ouyang Xiu himself is the bitter olive, returning from distant exile to the capital with harsh words of warning for his superiors. There are, in fact, at least two other possibilities. First, one could see the poem in a more literal sense, as a persuasion to others to try this exotic food. In this case the three analogies \u2014 \"good medicine is not sweet in the mouth . . . sincere words, though at first one detests them . . . syrup is sweet. . . but at length its aftertaste: what about that?\" \u2014 are generally accepted truths from various spheres which will encourage people to taste the olives. Secondly, inspired by Ouyang's comparison of Mei Yaochen's poetry with olives elsewhere, the work could be advocating an artistic aesthetic of plainness and harsh surface texture, with profound substance, as against the empty ornamentation of earlier Song poets.81 The above-mentioned rhyme scheme also supports such a \"literary\" reading of the olive image. Surely the ingenuity of Ouyang's art is to leave all such possibilities of interpretation open, adding depth and complexity to what could easily degenerate into sheer moralizing. And on top of these readings, we can once again discern the theme of tracing an object to its source, and imagining the mysterious natural forces that embued it with special character \u2014 a process which marks the poem as Ouyang's creation, even while the work shares qualities with earlier allegorical, and contemporary stylistic, tendencies. Another poem which juxtaposes food and government to a greater extent is that composed to see off a friend, one Marshal Liu, to a new post in Xiangyang.8 2 Ouyang 8 1 This comparison is noted by Yoshikawa, op.cit. 36-37 and 73, citing Ouyang's poem \"Sent to Zimei and Shengyu from my Night Journey to Shuigu\" [1044]. Original text in Ji vol. 1, 1.16. Ouyang also quotes this poem in his \"Remarks on Poetry,\" Ji vol.3, 14.114-115. This text is discussed further in my concluding chapter. 8 2 As the title makes clear, Marshal Liu was Liu Congguang (n.d.), a minister active in Renzong's (r. 1023-1063) government. Xiangyang was a city in present northern Hubei 155 lists all the delicious foodstuffs of the region, apparently in order to entice Liu to look forward to life in a different environment. Apart from providing interesting geographical information, and complimenting Liu on his governing skills, the work thus shows Ouyang's ability to console and encourage others at uncertain stages in their lives. How Joyful, the People of Xiangyang! Seeing Off Marshal Liu Congguang on his Way to Xiangyang [1057'f;3 Oh, you are so joyful, you people of Xiangyang City! Ten thousand homes link their roofs on the banks of the clear Han River, Your dialect is light and pure with the slightest hint of Qin , 8 4 4 To the south you join with Jiao and Guang; west are E and M i n . 8 5 Your gauze and silks are refined and beautiful; your medicines are precious, Loquats and sweet oranges are presented with clear wine, Piled up on golden platters, they dazzle with brightness of jade, 8 Their oar-shaped heads and shrivelled necks I heard about long ago, And yellow tangerines with pounded ginger, fragrant yet also spicy. Spring thunder shakes the earth; bamboo roots are running,86 With brocade buds and jade shoots, their flavour strives for freshness. 12 In phoenix forests flowers spread the spring to Southern Peak, They cover the mouth of the shining valley and hide the mountain pass, Terraces and halls rise, emerald and gold, their tiles shining like fish-scales, Province, near the border with Hebei Province, and also the name of a subprefecture surrounding the city. 83 In Ji vol.1, 2.31-32. 8 4 Qin # usually refers to the area around present Gansu Province, North-West China, quite distant from Xiangyang. Here I assume Ouyang means a \"western\" accent or turn of phrase. 8 5 E and Min were areas in Sichuan Province. For Jiao and Guang, see n.73 above. 8 6 Bamboo grows extremely rapidly in the spring rainy season. 156 Mount Xian summit towers loftily, leaning on floating clouds. 16 The Han River, as if from Heaven, gushes pounding down, Slanting sunlight reflects back; white birds form into flocks, On both banks the mulberries mingle with furrowed, ploughed fields. King Wen's transforming influence has long been overlooked, 20 For thousands of years, few have bothered to think of his benevolence.87 Yet Jingzhou, since Han and Wei, has always considered him highly,8 8 Here, from ancient times to the present, lived many famous ministers.89 Oh, you are so joyful, you people of Xiangyang City! 24 On the road, you support the grey-haired, and carry your young grandchildren, You come so far to greet Duke Liu's double-wheeled crimson carriage. Duke Liu is still young, and his spirit extremely pure, His knowledge of poetry and history is that of a \"cold scholar,\"90 28 Laughing and chatting over meat and wine, many are his excellent guests. In days gone by, Xing on the Ming experienced kind government,91 Even now, the vestiges of affection remain in its people, Who can take my poetic lines, and make the journey there, 32 To congratulate on my behalf the people of Xiangyang City! 8 7 King Wen, ancient sage ruler, was father of King Wu, founder of the Western Zhou (c.1123 BC-722 BC). 8 8 The Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) and the succeeding Wei (220-265 AD), during which time Jing was a large region comprising parts of present Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi, Guangdong, Henan and Guizhou Provinces. Xiangyang was within its jurisdiction then. 8 9 More literally: \"Viewed from the ancients to the present, there were numerous famous ministers.\" 9 0 I.e. a scholar so committed to study that he misses out on high office, hence remains poor and cold in the winter. 9 1 Yet another name for the area around Xiangyang: the Ming River flowed through what is now southern Hebei Province; Xing was the title of an ancient state in present south-west Hebei Province, one of the feofs established at the founding of the Western Zhou. Its first leader was a son of the sage ruler, the Duke of Zhou. A variant reading replaces Xing [on the] Ming with Xingtai, the name of a county in present south-west Hebei Province. 157 It is particularly the structure of this poem that transforms it from a conventional farewell and expression of goodwill into a brilliantly crafted work of art. After a refrain declaring the happiness of the Xiangyang people, Ouyang describes the place as an earthly paradise especially rich in delicious fruits and vegetables. The first fourteen lines each bear the same rhyme \u2014 unlike the normal alternate-line rhyme of old-style verse. Thus, freed from the convention of changing the topic at the end of each rhyming couplet, Ouyang can create a sense of surprise and suspense by stretching descriptions of favoured objects over three lines, and compressing others to just one. For instance, line 5 introduces two Xiangyang products: \"Your gauze and silk are refined and beautiful; your medicines are precious.\" Line 6 follows with fruits and drinks of the region: \"Loquats and sweet oranges are presented with clear wine.\" But instead of moving on to another group of objects in the next two lines, Ouyang dwells on these fruits, particularly the curiously-shaped loquat, comically overwhelming the balance of the previous couplet: \"Piled up on golden platters, they dazzle with brightness of jade;\/Their oar-shaped heads and shrivelled necks I heard about long ago.\" Then, almost as an afterthought, he adds another single line on a kind of fruit chutney: \"Yellow tangerines with pounded ginger, fragrant yet also spicy.\" The effect is to suggest a first-time visitor to Xiangyang \u2014 as Liu will be soon \u2014 walking around, describing what he encounters and lingering over the more unusual sights. A similar stretching occurs in lines 12-14, a riverside scene: \"The Han River, as if from Heaven, gushes pounding down,\/Slanting sunlight reflects back; white birds form into flocks,\/On both banks the mulberries mingle with furrowed, ploughed fields.\" After thus setting the scene, in the second half (lines 19-32) Ouyang turns to more historical concerns: ever since King Wen, the Xiangyang region has had a succession of famous ministers, hence the fertile abundance of the area \"today.\" And now \u2014 the refrain returns \u2014 \"you are so joyful, you people of Xiangyang,\" because you have another fine leader arriving in the shape of Liu! Although Ouyang has relaxed into a more regular 158 alternate-line rhyme scheme, he concentrates the rhymes again to emphasize the excitement surrounding the arrival of the new governor: \"On the road you support the grey-haired, and carry your young grandchildren (sun ^ ) , \/ Y o u come so far to greet Duke Liu's double-wheeled crimson carriage (lun fw),\/Duke Liu is still young and his spirit extremely pure (chun ^ ) \" (lines 24-26). Ouyang then concludes with the wish that someone will take his poem and use it as a eulogy to the continuing happiness of the people of Xiangyang. Apart from the ingenious rhyme-scheme, the skill of the poem lies in Ouyang's build-up to Liu's entry: he carefully gives an outline of the language, geography and economy of the region, followed by its political history, which naturally leads right up to today as Liu, the new governor, arrives to perpetuate the glorious reputation of the place, and to continue bringing joy to its people. Yet with the varying focus achieved by irregular grouping of lines, the clever design of the poem is cloaked in the guise of a series of spontaneous impressions. Hence, one feels an underlying order, but without sacrificing the novelty and refreshing individuality of a newly discovered environment.92 As far as I am aware, Ouyang himself was never posted to Xiangyang, although he probably passed through the region on his various journeys south from Kaifeng. Yet as with several preceding poems, he shows a remarkable talent for creating vivid scenes by means of sheer imaginative effort alone. However, his imaginative journeys through time and space, and elsewhere his yearning to escape petty struggles for power in the capital, never become an attempt to leave the world of human desires completely, or to transcend pleasure and pain through ascetic discipline. Even in his later poems revering recluse friends, his wish to emulate them only goes as far as the concluding lines of his poem \"Moved when Eating 'Chicken 9 2 Once again we might contrast Han Yu, who strives to express an underlying sense of frightening disorder. See note 35 above. 159 Heads' for the First Time.\" 9 3 \"Chicken heads\" was a colloquial name for the edible seeds of the plant called qian perhaps inspired by their bulbous shape.94 As Ouyang makes clear in the first half of the poem, these seeds were a prized delicacy in Kaifeng dining rooms. Unfortunately, just when he has the chance to taste them, he is grotesquely reminded of his advancing years: \"My whole mouth melts with anticipation, but alas for my aching teeth!\" (line 12). His pain causes him, first, to long for the days of his youth in the provinces, when he could contentedly eat his fill of common water-chestnuts, and second, to long for retirement to similar pastoral tranquility: \"When will I eventually buy fields to the east of Ying,\/And retire to build a thatched hut overlooking the rustic waters?\" (lines 19-20).95 In this sense, Ouyang resembles Tao Qian, satisfied with the simple, yet profound, rhythms of human life amidst nature, rather than L i Bai, the untiring vision seeker. Yet surely one reason for his unique manner of celebrating worldly pleasures and everyday life in poetry is that they allow him to reach beyond his immediate circumstances \u2014 tracing objects to their distant sources; imagining himself visiting or retiring to a place of outstanding natural beauty; or simply treating individual plants and creatures as symbols of endurance and transcendence. 9 3 In Ji vol.1, 2.53. 9 4 The English equivalent for qian, Gorgon euryale, has rather different associations. Euryale was one of three Gorgons in ancient Greek mythology, another being Medusa: creatures so ugly that looking at them face to face would turn men to stone. 9 5 Ying refers to Yingzhou (present Anhui Province), a place which Ouyang praised numerous times in his later works. The \"rustic waters\" could indicate either West Lake in Yingzhou, or the Ying River. For more details on this place, cf. my biographical sketch above. 160 Sleep To demonstrate that this \"quickening\" activity extends to almost the whole sphere of Ouyang's everyday life, I will conclude this chapter with a selection of poems on more diverse activities, yet still remaining as far as possible within the quotidian realm. Ouyang composed the first example to express gratitude for the gift of a stone pillow and a bamboo sleeping mat. The title clearly explains the context, and the poem dates from 1059. \/ received a gift of a Duanxi green stone pillow and a Qizhou bamboo mat; both are very fine objects. Since I am now able to sleep soundly, I cannot overcome my joy at obtaining these two objects. Presented to Secretary Yuanfu and Assistant Professor Shengyu.96 Carved out at Duanxi, a crescent moon form, Woven together at Qizhou, a rippling water pattern.97 I call my son to arrange the pillow and roll out the square mat, 4 The fiery sun is at its zenith; no clouds hang in the sky. Yellow glass-like light, and green jade liquid, 9 8 Bright and clean, cool and smooth; without a speck of dust. I recall recently in Kaifeng, temporarily wielding power, 8 Often I begged for my weary body 9 9 to escape all the tiresome duties. The Sage Ruler showed his concern; great ministers pitied me, They realized that I was old and sick, and not just making excuses. I even had the good fortune not to be sent away like a felon, 12 They granted me special permission to transfer back to my previous post. 1 0 0 9 6 In Ji vol. 1, 2.40. Traditionally in China, pillows were made of stone or clay. 9 7 Literally, \"double water pattern,\" or in a variant, \"double brocade pattern.\" 9 8 The mat is yellow (the colour of dried bamboo), and the pillow green. 9 9 Le. requested retirement. 161 In selecting talent and facing problems I wasn't of any use, When profit beckoned, I wasn't ashamed to seek it by fair means or foul. But since I've taken rented lodgings and settled south of the city, 16 My office hosts no social meetings; few guests come to my door. 1 0 1 Surely it's natural that only sleep now suits my inclinations, To take a rest when I feel lazy gives me great satisfaction! In the past I grew thin and haggard, extremely tired and exhausted, 20 Even more in this troubling humidity when the bright sun blazes. Young and strong, my panting breath was audible to no-one, Now middle-aged, my snoring makes a really nauseating sound. My stupid boy covers his ears, claiming it's crashing thunder, 24 The kitchen lady peeps in shocked, suspecting her pot is rattling. Flies and midges dive around; I let them do as they wish, Worm-eaten books lie strewn about; I'm just too lazy to shelve them. With spirit dulled and circulation sluggish to such a degree, 28 My words and train of thought simply cannot maintain clarity. One often hears about L i Bai, who loved drinking wine, He wanted to live with clinking ladle, for better or worse, till he died. As for my love of sleeping now, it even surpasses him: 32 My self and these two things makes three; that's more than enough for me! 1 0 0 This couplet seems rather sardonic, considering Ouyang's two previous exiles. 1 0 1 A variant gives \"in leisure I have few guests.\" 1 0 2 An allusion to L i Bai's set of poems \"Drinking Alone Beneath the Moon: Four Compositions,\" especially the first, in which he drinks accompanied by the moon and his shadow. See Chinese text in QTS 6.1853 (juan 212). Ouyang has two object \"companions\" as well: the pillow and sleeping mat (line 32). 162 Permission to retire to Jiangxi will come in a matter of days, 1 0 3 Then I'll begin gathering up my luggage to take back home. Finally, I will roll my mat, take up my pillow and leave, 36 To build a house and buy fields at the end of the limpid Ying. This poem provides another classic episode of self-caricature. Ouyang claims that the worries of recent high office in Kaifeng have left him quite exhausted; now he has moved to a less demanding position, and as a result spends all his time sleeping; the pillow and sleeping mat have thus come at a most opportune moment. The poem is a well-crafted, humorous depiction of the joys of much-needed rest, and of course, gratitude for a considerate gift. The more serious tone of the first half, describing how unsuited he was to his previous job, only serves to offset more boldly the comical unconcern with polite standards of behaviour in the second half, now that he has some leisure time. Ouyang's reference to L i Bai in lines 29-30 is instructive: the former poet loved wine and would gladly have spent the rest of his life drinking, with his shadow and the moon as companions; Ouyang also has two \"companions\" \u2014 the moon-shaped pillow and the watery-patterned bamboo mat \u2014 and declares that his love for sleep is even greater than L i Bai's for wine. Of course, this is a comic poem, and Ouyang, as we have seen elsewhere, frequently praises wine-drinking too. Yet his willingness to embrace sleeping, not as the prelude to transcendent, visionary dreams, but for its simple, restful effects is surely another indication that he sees every aspect of life as worthy of celebration in poetry. 1 0 3 Until the Song, Jiangxi (literally \"West of the River\") covered a much larger area than present Jiangxi Province, basically including most of Central China south of the Yangtze River. Hence, Yingzhou would have been part of Jiangxi (see note 95 above). Though Ouyang writes \"a matter of days,\" it was actually another 12 years before he was allowed to retire in 1071. 163 Secondly, the details of the poem again demonstrate his ability to transform an ugly scene into a memorable occasion, just as he did in his poem describing the adverse effects of strong tea. Not only does he snore, but does so with a \"nauseating sound\"; the servant boy and cook are given cameo roles in the poem: the former covers his ears and cheekily pretends the snoring is crashing thunder; the latter peers in, shocked, thinking the noise is her pot rattling on the stove. Flies and midges appear too, freely buzzing around his sleeping frame, and worm-eaten books are strewn about: both signs of Ouyang's present \"laziness\" and indifference (lines 21-26). Such little sketches, each contained within a single line, use the details of domestic life to add vividness and character to the larger situation, thereby recognizing their significance. And unlike some earlier poets, such as Du Fu (712-770) in his \"Northern Journey,\"1 0 4 who include references to family and household in order to add poignancy to a tragic situation, Ouyang seems to enjoy such details in their own right: in his case, they form part of the humorous aspect of human life, worthy of recording for posterity. Another expression of appreciation for an object which allows him to sleep occurs in a poem written during his mission north to the Qidan M ft (Khitan) peoples in late-1055. The journey was undertaken in winter through very barren, desert-like territory. Yet Ouyang manages to find some consolation even in such unpromising circumstances: Written on a Plain White Screen105 In my journey of three thousand miles, Which object stays closest to me? This foot-wide white screen comes to mind, 4 It always remains right by my side. 1 0 4 See Chinese text in QTS 7.2275-2276 (juan 217). English translation by Hugh Stimson in Victor Mair, ed., The Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature (Columbia UP 1994) 209-213, especially Stimson's section iii, lines 59-88. 1 0 5 In Ji vol.1, 2.21. 164 In the vast wilds, yellow sands abound, Even at midday the white sun is darkened. The force of the wind is like a crossbow, 8 And flying grit comes shooting towards you. At evening I shelter in a mountain lodge, Resting from the trials of horse and carriage. I open the screen and place it at the bed-head, 12 Then toss and turn all night till dawn. I lie and listen: outside the mean hut, The north wind drives the snow-laden clouds. Don't be sad about tomorrow's snow: 16 For now, just embrace the warm fox-furs.1 0 6 My lord's orders are certainly severe, The long journey is truly a hardship. I will simply accept one night's contentment, 20 As for the rest: I'll keep silent. The poem is quite straightforward and notably sombre. It seems that Ouyang much preferred imaginary journeys inspired by objects rather than the real discomforts of enforced travel \u2014 even more so as he grew older. However, the consoling power of the screen seems stronger in inverse proportion to the harshness of the surroundings, as does his determination to concentrate on the positive, meaningful side of his situation. In this way, a simple poem once more manifests the depth of his appreciation for the pleasures of ordinary life. 1 0 6 Literally, \"the warmth of fox and marten,\" referring to the furry pelts of these creatures made into a coat. 165 Musical performance Cultural activities were another important part of Ouyang's life. I have already dealt with several works which relate cultural products \u2014 paintings, decorated screens, calligraphic inscriptions and music \u2014 to the power and depth of mountain scenery. Ouyang also composed a number of poems both on the tools used in cultural activities \u2014 brushes, paper and inkstones, musical instruments and the like \u2014 and the everyday context surrounding these activities. I will give examples of both these themes, commencing with two works illustrating how musical performances fit into the domestic scene. The first is an excellent portrayal of a rainy holiday, which somehow achieves a ragged transcendence towards the end. The lengthy title is as follows: The day before Qingming, Han Zihua, quoting Jingjie [i.e. Tao Qian 'sj Xie Stream poem,107 invited me to visit Plum Gardens. After I returned, there followed three days of terrible wind and rain, and I couldn't go outside. I spent all the time sitting at home. My family decanted some leftover wine and took out several cups. The mud was deep, nobody was out and about, and we were far from the market, so they searched in baskets and boxes and found cured fish, dried prawns and the like. They urged me to drink and I 1 0 7 This poem by Tao, \"An Outing to Xie Stream,\" is in Wang Yao, op.cit. 85-86. English translation in Hightower, op.cit. 57. It describes a sunny day spent drinking wine with friends by the beautiful stream, and begins with the lines: \"With this one, fifty years have slipped away,\/My life proceeds apace to its final rest\" (Hightower). Ouyang doubtless finds these words poignant, since he is also just over fifty now. Qingming Festival lasted for three days from the 4th. of the 4th. month according to the traditional Chinese calendar (around the beginning of May by the modern Western calendar). It was common for people to go and tidy the graves of their ancestors during the festival. The day preceding Qingming was called Cold Food Festival, a time when lighting cooking fires was prohibited. Ouyang went out with his friends on this day. 166 became extremely drunk, then in a daze went off to sleep. Since I feel bored, I now write what I saw, and present it to Shengyu [1059] 1 0 8 In my youth I was happy to go on the prowl, Now that I'm old, I despise all the din. I was embarrassed that two or three fellows 4 Invited me to go look at flowers. Flowers blooming: can that be bad? And as for the season, one could call it perfect. But due to my illness I couldn't take a drink, 8 The crowd celebrated while I alone sighed. The flutes and strings were soon just a memory, In wind and rain I sadly returned home. For three days I could not venture outside, 12 In the piled up din I resembled a cold crow. My wife and children urged me to drink, Spreading out fruits and melons to eat. For wine they poured out the leftover dregs, 16 And mixed cured fish with dried up prawns. Then a young maid stood in front of me, Barefoot, with hair in double bunches. \"Ya, ya!\" sounded the paired strings, 20 Just like the creaking oar of a boat. It caused my mind to dwell on rivers and lakes, Swaying with thoughts of boundlessness. 1 0 8 In Ji vol. 1,2.42-43. 167 I don't know how to repay my generous income,10 24 The hair at my temples has already turned white. I have fields around the limpid Ying [River], I could still engage in agricultural work. Where can I find a single brown bullock? 28 I'll don a headscarf, and drive a rustic cart! The girl in this poem is probably playing an erhu H rjFj (a kind of two-stringed fiddle), judging by Ouyang's description of the \"creaking\" sound of the strings. Depressed by the signs of his aging, and the terrible weather, Ouyang \u2014 adopting another sardonic, stubborn old man persona \u2014 sits gloomily at home like a \"cold crow.\" His family members make efforts to cheer him up, and eventually the musical performance by a \"barefoot maid,\" jarring and substandard though it may be, allows him \"thoughts of boundlessness.\" He concludes with an imaginary sketch of himself wearing a peasant's headscarf and driving a cart pulled by a bullock. 1 1 0 Rather than immediately analysing the above poem in depth, I will juxtapose it with another work written two years earlier, containing a slightly different mix of music and domestic life. 1 0 9 Ouyang frequently uses this phrase both as a declaration of modesty about his achievements while in office, and an indirect expression of his wish to retire: the Emperor continually rejected his requests to step down, thus implying that he hadn't yet served the country enough. 1 1 0 In the poem, Ouyang does not explicitly state that the maid plays the music (see lines 17-20). It is possible that Ouyang sees her simple, barefoot appearance, then hears the \"creaking\" music, and the two perceptions together evoke a rustic mood. However, as the following poem demonstrates, it was quite common in the Song period for young girls to be \"employed\" as musicians in the houses of rich officials, hence it is likely that Ouyang's maid was the string player of the poem. 168 At Administrator Liu's House I Saw Assistant Professor Yang [Bao 'sj Maid Play the Pipa. Written in Jest, Presented to Shengyu [1057] 1 1 1 The sound of the low strings lingers; the high strings hurry on, Sweetness, only ten years old, performs the \"Woodpecker\" tune. The woodpecker doesn't try to peck at newly-sprouting twigs, 4 It only pecks the gnarled and jagged trunk of a withered tree. The flowers are dense, shading the sun in a locked, empty garden. The trees are old, stretching to the sky in the distant, deep ravines. You don't see the woodpecking bird, 8 You only hear the woodpecking sound. The spring breeze is pleasantly warm, a hundred birds are chattering, The mountain road undulates, and travelling people roam. The woodpecker then comes flying along, no-one knows where from, 12 Between flowers and under leaves, repeating its sound: ding ding. The woods are empty, the mountains quiet: its pecks echo all the more. Travelling people raise their heads, and flying birds are startled. The sweet child is still small but her fingers pluck quite firmly, 16 The administrator's hall is cold, and the strings clearly resound. The dense timbre and urgent pulse overwhelm all the guests, As a toast to you I'll drink dry a golden goblet of wine! Master Yang loves elegance: his heart isn't vulgar at all, 20 But his University post is low, and he sups on coarse husked grains. Sweetness wears a skirt made from two widths of dark cloth, On a wooden bed with only three legs, she sits and plays her tunes. 1 1 1 In Ji vol.1, 2.32-33. The pipa f | M is a kind of long-necked lute. 169 Yet as for rare books and ancient paintings, he buys them at any price, 24 He stores them in brocade bags, and mounts them on jade rollers. Opening his pictures and closing his volumes, sometimes he feels weary, He lies down and listens to the pipa, looking around his room. When guests come he calls the girl quickly to comb and wash, 28 Her forehead is filled with flowery ornaments, stuck with yellow chrysanthemums. Although her appearance is lovely, and her eyes and brows are graceful, Can she hide the prolonged hunger that shrivels her head and neck? And yet, Poet Elder of Warding, you must not mock and tease them, 32 If people are satisfied with their own lives, that is really happiness, And you, Old Sir, don't have this child or this tune in your home! In the poem describing Ouyang's own household, the musician is portrayed as \"barefoot, with hair in double bunches.\" The emphasis seems to be on her youth and simplicity rather than suggesting poverty. Here, however, the maid named Sweetness is hungry-looking and emaciated; no amount of dressing up can hide the fact. Master Yang, her employer, is the same Yang Bao to whom Ouyang addressed the \"Picture of a Climbing Cart\" in the previous chapter. In that work, Ouyang praised him for appreciating the joys of art, in spite of his relative poverty, and for his willingness to spend hard-earned money on a painting to which he took a fancy. Yet seeing the maid so underfed on this visit, a year later, Ouyang is surely voicing an indirect criticism of Yang's priorities in life. Especially so, since Yang is willing to expend great amounts of cash on the purchase and mounting of \"rare books and ancient paintings\" (lines 23-24) while apparently unaware of the lack of basic necessities for those in his household. Despite the last three lines of the poem, where he enjoins Mei Yaochen, the Poetry Elder, not to mock Yang for this imbalance, I feel that Ouyang himself clearly implies a lack of humanity on Yang's part. 170 As we have seen above, Ouyang purposefully includes elements of everyday life in his poetry, because he feels their deep significance and seeks to express it in an artistic structure. Hence, he rarely composes a poem only on the effects of, for example, music or painting, without describing the whole context in which the cultural objects take their place. Often he cultivates a sense of incongruity, a mixing of high and low levels of taste, in order to emphasize the complex order within human existence. Both these poems on music contain such a juxtaposition. Yet where the first moves from a gloomy old man in a noisy family scene, via the musical performance, into a kind of pastoral transcendence, the second begins by transporting the audience into a similar rustic scene but concludes with a jarring return to the cold hall and underfed figure of the pipa player. And unlike the earlier tea poems, which involve the same kind of movement, there is no humour here to offset the stark reality. Moreover, aware of the possibility that the work is a veiled criticism of Yang Bao, and re-reading the impressionistic images inspired by the music at its opening, the continuous knocking of the woodpecker (looking for food!) now suggests an unsettled urgency. And there is surely bitter irony in the couplet: \"The woodpecker doesn't try to peck at newly sprouting twigs,At only pecks the gnarled and jagged trunk of a withered tree\" (lines 3-4). Is Yang perhaps the withered tree? It is possible to support this interpretation of Ouyang's poem by referring to the work Mei Yaochen composed in response to it. Of course, Mei's reaction to the situation is that of a different poet, and thus will express his own particular concerns. It provides only indirect confirmation of my reading. Nevertheless, Mei is very clear in his condemnation of Yang's lack of compassion: The servant girl is still young and stands out from the vulgar run, But in the tenth month she wears a thin robe and only gets millet to eat. She says that she waits on Yang the Broadly Cultured, of Guanxi, Broadly Cultured, he empties her belly, greedy to teach her tunes . . . 171 . . . She also laughs that collected drawings and paintings fill the house, But he's not willing to spend the money to buy her a pearl headdress, She must endure being stuck with clumps of chrysanthemums from the front terrace!1 1 2 Likewise, the urgency of the woodpecker is again trenchantly expressed: [The pipa] imitates a starving bird pecking at a cold tree, The woodworms and living insects are hidden deep within fine crevices. It constantly pecks with a \"knock, knock,\" but never fills its belly . . . . . . The upper strings rush urgently on; the lower strings are resonant, Just like the sound of a preying mantis seizing hold of a cicada! 1 1 3 Assuming that my reading is accurate, it is clear that Ouyang requires a balance between love of culture and compassion for one's fellow human beings. I have already suggested that his constant wish to escape from the burdens of office, even if only temporarily or in imagination alone, is seldom, if at all, accompanied by the desire to forget reality. His worries and stress come from the real world, but his deepest pleasures and joys also have their source in that same world. Hence his willingness to include all sides of existence in his poetry, and his attempt to discover their depth. Ultimately, I feel that this all-embracing vision has its roots in Ouyang's committed involvement in and curiosity about life \u2014 what could be termed a sense of wonder \u2014 which almost inevitably leads to indignation with those like Yang Bao who, through exaggerated detachment from life, neglect the suffering of others. 1 1 2 See Mei's poem \"Matching the Rhymes of Yongshu's 'Written in Jest,'\" lines 19-22, 26-28, in Zhu Dongrun, ed., Mei Yaochen ji biannian jiaozhu (Shanghai 1980) vol.3, 981. 1 1 3 Ibid, lines 2-4, 7-8. 172 Writing Tools and Equipment Finally in this chapter, I will give three more translations of poems connected with another of Ouyang's favoured cultural pursuits, calligraphy.114 These are works dealing with the tools used in calligraphy rather than the finished artistic product, and I will arrange them in ascending order of imaginative sweep, beginning with the most straightforward: Shengyu Gave Me a Brush from Xuanzhou: Written in Jest [1059]. 1 1 5 Shengyu is a native of Xuan City, He's competent with the violet-haired brush. 1 1 6 Zhuge Gao, a man of Xuan, 4 Maintains the trade without losing ground. He makes the hearts firm, and ties the long hairs, Wrapping three times: exquisite and dense. Their firmness and softness suit the human hand, 8 In one hundred brushes there isn't a single dud. The assembled brushmakers in the capital, Set up boards advertizing themselves. Crowded together, east of Xiangguo [Temple], 1 1 7 12 Numerous as lice in the gaps in your clothes. 1 1 4 For Ouyang's comments on this hobby see Ronald Egan, \"Ou-yang Hsiu and Su Shih on Calligraphy,\" in Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 49.2 (1989) 365-419. 1 1 5 In Ji vol. 1, 6.78. Also in Xuanji 183, from which the dating of the work is taken. Xuanzhou (in present Anhui Province) produced excellent brushes. 1 1 6 Hard, pointed rabbit fur was called \"violet hair\" (zihao % ItS), and was very suitable for calligraphy brushes. 1 1 7 A commercial district in Kaifeng. 173 Some are weak, lacking most of the point, Some are stiff, and can't be made to yield. One can only store them in the metal brush-rack, 16 They appear distinguished but lack all substance. The price may be high, but you still waste your money, And can use them only a matter of days. How can they compare with a Xuancheng brush, 20 Which endures long, yet can be had for free! There are strong indications of a moralistic significance in this work \u2014 for instance, lines 13-14: \"Some are weak, lacking most of the point;\/Some are stiff, and can't be made to yield,\" and line 16: \"They appear distinguished but lack all substance.\" Still, the poem succeeds artistically as a careful depiction of the brush and its maker, and its moralism does not seem out of place or obtrusive. Perhaps the \"written in jest\" of the title hints that the poem imitates Mei Yaochen's penchant for minute description, utilizing the plainest of diction. 1 1 8 Certainly it does not aim for the imaginative breadth of many poems above, although we do see once again the juxtaposition of a superior object from the provinces with a crowd of expensive, but mediocre, pretenders in the capital. Also the last four lines make a humorous comparison showing that price is not a reliable indicator of quality, especially when one receives the brush as a gift! The second of this \"trilogy\" on calligraphic tools concerns some fine paper shown to Ouyang by Liu Chang (stylename Yuanfu). The poem dates from 1055. 1 1 8 Chaves, op.cit. Chapter 5, translates several such poems by Mei, written in an extremely objective descriptive style. 174 Matching Liu Yuanfu's \"Clear-heart\" Paper119 Have you not seen \u2014 Manqing and Zimei, true rare talents, Have long since dispersed and scattered, buried in brown dust. 1 2 0 Zimei, alive, was poor; in death is much more esteemed, 4 His remaining phrases and fragmented writings valuable as jade treasures. Manqing's drunken compositions adorn red-painted walls: But the wall-paint is already peeling, covered by smoke and coal. The River pours down from Kunlun, with winding, bending power, 1 2 1 8 Snow presses down Mount Taihua, towering in its height. Ever since these two masters followed each other into oblivion, The climate of these rivers and mountains is thrown into utter chaos. It is true that in your home you have a sheaf of \"Clear-heart\" paper, 12 But do you know whether anyone would dare to place their brush on it? The Poet Elder of Xuanzhou is starving, about to die: 1 2 2 A snow goose with broken wings; the sound of his cry so mournful. Sometimes, when he can fill his belly, he enjoys creating poems, 16 It's like hearing someone sing out loud, then draining a golden goblet. Though two masters are dead and gone, this Elder still survives, His old hands are yet skilled in the craft of \"paper-cutting.\"123 1 1 9 In Ji vol.1, 2.19-20. Also in Xuanji 150. An alternative title is \"Presented for Recitation, On the Paper of Clear-heart Hall.\" According to the editors of Xuanji, this paper was made in Chengxin (\"Clear-heart\") Hall under L i Y u (r.961-975), last ruler of the Southern Tang, one of the kingdoms of the Five Dynasties. 1 2 0 Manqing was the nickname of Shi Yannian (994-1041), a poet and calligrapher whose work was admired by Ouyang, for instance in his \"Remarks on Poetry,\" Ji vol.3, 14.118. Zimei was the nickname of Su Shunqin (1008-1048), another poet friend of Ouyang. Cf. a poem praising Su at the beginning of the next chapter. 1 2 1 The Yellow River and the Kunlun Mountain range. 1 2 2 As the preceding poem relates, Mei Yaochen's ancestral home was Xuanzhou. 175 So why did you not send it to him, instead of showing me? 20 This is rejecting orthodox debate in favour of jokes and mockery! Alas, I am decrepit now; I'm not the man I was, And what's the use of picking up volumes, opening and closing them? A hundred years of fighting, and shedding of battlefield blood \u2014 24 A whole kingdom's songs and dances \u2014 are now just ruined terraces. At that time the hundred things were all exquisite and fine, But most of their remains have been abandoned to rampant weeds. So where on earth did you manage to obtain such paper as this, 28 Pure, strong, glossy and smooth: a volume of one hundred leaves? When work matters and official duties allow us the joy of leisure, In towers and halls we'll sing and respond, matching each others' heights. The written word, since ancient times, has always managed to survive, 1 2 4 32 How do you know that what we produce will not last into the future? The sheer ingenuity and power of this poem's structure do not reveal themselves fully until the second or third readings. At first glance the work appears as a lament: for the loss of Ouyang's talented friends Su Shunqin and Shi Yannian, only \"fragments\" of whose writings remain; also for Ouyang's own descent into barren old age, futilely opening and shutting his volumes; and for the decay and destruction of the Southern Tang, last of the kingdoms of the Five Dynasties, which had in its heyday produced numerous objects equal in quality to this paper. Images of decay abound throughout the poem: Su and Shi are \"dispersed and scattered; buried in brown dust;\" their works are only leftover fragments, or inscriptions on peeling paint \"covered by smoke and coal;\" and their death 1 2 3 A figure for fine craftsmanship (in poetry), though here it is especially relevant since the subject is paper. 1 2 4 Literally, \"in the world has never been lacking.\" 176 has disrupted the climate of mountains and rivers. As for Mei Yaochen, he is \"starving, about to die . . . a snow goose with broken wings;\" and Ouyang himself is \"decrepit now, not the man I was.\" Finally, the glory of the Southern Tang court is transformed to \"ruined terraces\" and \"rampant weeds.\" Unexpectedly, from each of these destructive images Ouyang discovers a reason for continued hope and perseverance. Thus Su Shunqin was poor during his life, but \"more esteemed\" since his death; even fragments of his works are now prized like jade. Likewise, though Su and Shi have long since passed away, apparently leaving no great writer worthy of using such excellent paper, Ouyang suddenly remembers Mei Yaochen, who \"still survives\" and is \"yet skilled in the craft of paper-cuts.\" Moreover, Mei is able to create such works despite his poverty and hunger (lines 13-16). Thirdly, the constant battles flaring up during the Five Dynasties, ultimately leading to their demise, would seem to have left nothing in an acceptable state. Nevertheless, Liu has discovered a hundred sheets of Clear-heart paper in pristine condition, somehow emerging from the ruins of the Southern Tang. Ouyang's surprize at this unexpected find is worth quoting again: \"At that time the hundred things were all exquisite and fine,\/But most of their remains have been abandoned to rampant weeds.\/So where on earth did you manage to obtain such paper as this,\/Pure, strong, glossy and smooth: a volume of one hundred leaves?\" It is the possibility of such unexpected survival and rediscovery in the future that can make our efforts today worthwhile. The poem which began as a lament has surprizingly ended with its own discovery of hope, as Ouyang plans to spend sociable evenings with his friends, writing on this excellent paper: \"When work matters and official duties allow us the joy of leisure,\/In towers and halls we'll sing and respond, matching each others' heights.\/The written word, since ancient times, has always managed to survive,\/How do you know that what we produce will not last into the future?\" If this poem displays ingenuity of structure, the third work is an imaginative extravaganza. The poem describes an inkstone made from a tile which Ouyang claims was 177 originally on the roof of the \"Bronze Sparrow\" Tower, built by the great general Cao Cao (155-220 AD) at the end of the Han Dynasty. Ouyang, inspired by the tile, recreates the turbulent years preceding and following the Han collapse. His compact summary of events, though probably clear to his contemporaries, requires some amplification for modern readers. The \"fire\" of line 1 \u2014 \"when fire numbers four hundred, the scorching spirit disperses\" \u2014 refers to a theory based on the Five Elements which arbitrarily classified historical periods according to the element supposedly predominating at the time. Hence, the Qin (221-206 BC) was considered the dynasty of water, and the Han, after some controversy, settled on earth. 1 2 5 Ouyang seems to ignore the short-lived Qin, and declares that the Han, \"full of earth,\" overcame the fiery Zhou when its four hundred year cycle was complete: \"Whoever seeks to replace it must be full of earth\" (line 2). Wen and Jing, of line 4, are the posthumous titles of two early Han Emperors, reigning from 179-156 BC and 156-140 B C respectively. According to the Records of the Historian by Sima Qian (c.145 BC-90 BC), both were effective and responsible rulers. 1 2 6 However, by the later Han, particularly during the 2nd. century A D , a succession of local hegemons rose up, usurping central government power one after another \u2014 presumably this was due to the ending of another four hundred year cycle. Line 7 mentions four such figures: \"Dong, Lu, Jue and Fan died in quick succession.\" Dong Zhuo (d.192 AD) overthrew 1 2 5 For this classification system, see Joseph Needham, op.cit., vol.2, 253-265, esp. tables on 262-263. Needham notes that the Han settled on earth as its element from 165 BC, a fact which is corroborated in Sima Qian's Shiji. See also Burton Watson, trans., Records of the Grand Historian (Columbia 1961; 1968 repr.) vol.1, 359: the part of Emperor Wen's (r. 179-156 BC) biography in which this decision is related. Cf. also Achilles Fang, trans, and annot., The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms (Harvard 1952) 45, quoting the Song historian Sima Guang (1019-1086): \"After the Ch'in 0 had burned books and buried alive Confucian scholars, there arose the Han Hi, whose scholars began to propound the theory of mutual engendering and mutual destruction of the Five Elements. Arguing that Ch'in had occupied an intercalated position . . . between the elements of Wood [Chou JD] and of fire [Han], they considered it as the dynasty of a hegemon, and would not accredit it as that of a King\" (Fang's parentheses. And cf. ibid. 66, n.7.2). 1 2 6 Their annals are translated in Burton Watson, op.cit. 341-374. Original text in M a Chiying, ed., Shiji jinzhu (Taiwan: Shangwu 1979) chaps. 10 and 11, 367-402. 178 Emperor Shao in 189 A D and placed a puppet ruler, Emperor Xian (nominally reigned 190-220) on the throne. Cao Cao and one Yuan Shao (d.202) rebelled against Dong's usurpation, forcing him to flee to Chang'an with the Emperor. Lu Bu (d.198), after working with Dong Zhuo, betrayed and murdered him in 192. He became known as the \"Flying General.\" The other two men mentioned in line 7, L i Jue and Guo Fan, formed a loose coalition and seized power in the new capital, Chang'an, after Dong Zhuo's death in 192, holding the Emperor virtually hostage there. Through political misjudgment, probably the result of infighting within their clique, L i and Guo allowed the Emperor to return east to Luoyang, the former capital, in late-195, where Cao Cao managed to capture him the following year. Turning to line 8 \u2014 \"Shao and Shu, Quan and Bei struggled, ranting and roaring\" \u2014 we have mentioned Yuan Shao above, a strong regional leader who had the greatest number of troops at his disposal among those vying for power. Cao Cao, having co-operated with him for many years, finally changed his allegiance and defeated Shao at Guandu in 200. Shao's cousin, Yuan Shu (d.200), was actually a long-term enemy: the two cousins had struggled for supremacy on the eastern side of the Empire until Shu was seriously defeated by Cao Cao in 197. Later, Liu Bei (161-223) and Sun Quan (182-252) allied together to defeat Cao Cao at Chibi (\"Red Cliff') in 208, destroying Cao's ambition to unify the Empire under his control. The Han officially collapsed in 220, with Cao's son Pi (187-226) establishing Wei Kingdom in that year, and Liu and Sun setting up the Kingdoms of Shu-Han (221) and Wu (222) respectively. Finally, Sun inflicted a massive defeat on Liu in 222, at Yiling; Liu died of illness the following year, leaving Sun Quan the only survivor among these original leaders.1 2 7 1 2 7 For events leading to the collapse of the Han, see the detailed treatment in Carl Leban, Ts'ao Ts'ao and the Rise of Wei (diss., Columbia University 1971). For events after 220 A D , see Achilles Fang, op.cit. 179 However, the main subject of the poem is Cao Cao. Ouyang implies that Cao's death proved he was afraid of Imperial authority: \"But it seemed that reaching his hands, he did not dare to take it\" (line 11). Then the arrogance and shamelessness of his son Pi caused him to lose most of their territory (line 12). Ouyang has Pi claiming that he equals the legendary sage emperors Shun and Yu, who successively received the imperial mandate from Emperor Yao (lines 13-14); however, Cao Pi's successors were weak and soon lost control of all Cao Cao's hard-won territory (line 20). 1 2 8 Ouyang concludes the historical summary with a contrast between the glorious, heroic days of Cao Cao's prime, and the sad, lonely surroundings of the abandoned Bronze Sparrow Tower which Cao had constructed, now a monument to the vicissitudes of political struggle (lines 21-26). Answering Xie Jingshan [Bochu 'sj Song on a Gift of an Ancient Tile Inkstone [c.1037] 1 2 9 When fire numbers four hundred, the scorching spirit disperses, Whoever seeks to replace it must be well-endowed with earth. Extreme treachery and utmost cruelty are not easy to take on, 4 Only now he realized the strong foundation of Wen and Jing. 1 3 0 In vain he brandished a long beak to peck at all under Heaven, Brave and heroic opponents rose up just like the spines on a porcupine. Dong, Lu, Jue and Fan died in quick succession, 8 Shao and Shu, Quan and Bei struggled ranting and roaring. 1 2 8 For this interpretation of line 20, see note 135 below. 1 2 9 In Ji vol.1, 6.57-58. See also the completely contrasting work entitled \"Ancient Tile Inkstone\" (ibid. 6.58, and in Xuanji 46), which is stylistically similar to the poem on the Xuanzhou brush above. For Xie Bochu, cf. my concluding chapter below, and Ouyang's \"Remarks on Poetry,\" Ji vol.3, 14.117-118. For dating of this poem, see Ouyang's letter to Xie in ibid, vol.2, 8.65-66, dated 1037 in the contents to Ji, in which Ouyang praises what he calls Xie's \"Song on the Ancient Tile Inkstone.\" 1 3 0 1 interpret the subject \"he\" to be Cao Cao. 180 Those with power gained victory; the timid were defeated, How compare their talent and virtue, or fix their contribution? Yet it seemed that, reaching his hands, he did not dare to take it, 12 Instead he caused full-grown locusts to breed their pestilent young. 1 3 1 His son, Pi, from the beginning lacked all sense of shame, He dared to claim that Shun and Y u had it passed to them by Y a o . 1 3 2 He received it in such a manner, but lost it just the same way, 16 Who'd have known that \"three horses would eat from a single trough?\" 1 3 3 In the time of his ascendancy, he struggled with heart and soul, 1 3 4 His curses and shouts were hail and thunder raising a typhoon wind. When weapons of battle were finally stilled, and numerous attacks completed, 20 Zhou had died and Shao remained; Yao had no [burial] mound. 1 3 5 1 3 1 Locusts are clearly pests: it is possible that Ouyang is referring to Cao Cao's enemies in the other two Kingdoms, Wu and Shu-Han, whose successors continued to plague Wei with raids and campaigns. 1 3 2 See Achilles Fang, op.cit. 37, n.35.1, for an explanation of the Yao-Shun succession parallel. Fang translates: \"The Emperor (i.e. Xiandi, last Han Dynasty ruler) issued an edict,'. . . I shall now follow the precedent given in the Yao-tien | \u00a7 [of the Shu-ching # M ] and abdicate the throne in favour of the King of Wei [i.e. Cao Pi] . '\" Cao Pi thus treats the last Han Emperor as Yao, and combines the virtues of Shun and Y u in himself. As Fang notes, the Han Emperor also gave his two daughters to be Cao Pi's wives, emulating Yao's presentation of his two daughters to Shun. However, Cao was already married, unlike Shun, and had a notoriously large harem! See ibid. 37 and 40, n.38. 1 3 3 \"Trough\" (cao ;fff) is pronounced identically to the Cao family surname (W). The \"three horses\" (san ma H IS) possibly refers to the Sima fJ] family, who usurped the Wei Kingdom and set up the Jin Dynasty in 265 AD. Support for this interpretation comes from the passage in the Jinshu \u2014 \"three horses eat together from one trough\" \u2014 which Ouyang quotes almost verbatim in this line, and which was supposed to have been a dream vision about Sima Y i , posthumously known as Emperor Xuan of Jin, that Cao Cao had before his death. See Jinshu, op.cit. 1.20, Xuandiji j f ^ IE (\"Annals of Emperor Xuan\"). Another possibility is that the single \"trough\" refers to the Empire, and \"three horses\" to the Three Kingdoms who had to share it in spite of Cao Cao's previous efforts at unification. 1 3 4 Lines 13-16 referred to Cao Pi; here, the subject is once more Cao Cao in the days of his prime. 181 The heroes had raised toasts of wine to honour him at noble receptions, How lofty was the Bronze Sparrow, towering in the heights. Flowing melodies circled around, urging on the clear wine-cups, 24 Wondrous dancers on every side revolved their slender waists. One morning at Xiling he saw a massive tree, 1 3 6 How lonely then his tapestries, empty in the soughing wind. At that time the bleakness was already deplorable, 28 How much more in later generations do we mourn former dynasties! The lofty tower has long since toppled, slowly becoming level ground, This tile, as soon as it fell, was buried in choking weeds. Half obscured under patterned moss and sullied by barren earth, 32 It had to endure the blood of battles, and scorching of rural fires. Yet ruined leather and broken nets can still find useful employment, And someone chiselled and carved [this tile], forming the central dip. The powerful strokes of Jingshan's brush are sturdy as a crossbow, 36 His phrases are lean, his diction venerable, suiting his boldness of gesture. Alas for me, seizing it by force, what use do I have for [this tile]? Official documents, red and black inks, pile up in meaningless confusion. 1 3 5 1 interpret the first half of this line as an allusion to the period after the death of King Wu, founder of the Western Zhou (traditionally established c. 1100 BC). King Wu had entrusted his territory to the Duke of Zhou (Zhou Gong JKI fc) and the Duke of Shao (Shao Gong ^ while his successor, King Cheng was still too young to take power. However, the former Duke (Zhou) soon died, leaving the Empire in a weak position. Ouyang seems to treat the weak Wei Kingdom as similarly divided, perhaps due to the rise of the Sima family (see preceding note). The final 3 characters, Yao wu gao ^\u00a7 fjjjifl, leave me rather nonplussed. Above (in line 14), Yao is clearly used to make a parallel with the last Han Emperor; and wu gao literally means \"without a hill,\" hence my attempt at a coherent translation. In other words, the whole line implies that after the collapse of the Cao house, the orthodox succession which Cao Pi had received from the Han Emperor was usurped, and the new rulers would no longer respect their Han ancestors. 1 3 6 Cao Cao apparently had such a premonition of his death in a dream. 182 But changing my post from South to North, I've never once left it behind, 401 wrap it in three or four layers of silk, and carefully seal the package. There have been times when my inner thoughts wanted to fly and scatter, My moods would become completely tangled, hard to separate the strands. Travelling by boat, I was often prepared to be seized by the Water God, 44 And constantly in the gloomy darkness I encountered wind and waves. Stubborn by nature this object has lasted, bearing an essential strangeness, I constantly dread its metamorphosis into a spirit or ghoul! In the famous capital wherever I go I'll hand it around for amusement, 481 love it and wouldn't exchange it even for a jewelled sword of L u . 1 3 7 The long song that you gave me is strange yet also powerful, Though I wish to repay you, I'm ashamed to say I possess no jasper or jade. The last fourteen lines explain to a certain extent what comes before. Ouyang makes his customary claims about lacking both the talent to answer Xie Bochu's poem on the inkstone, and even the worthiness to possess such a powerful object. The ancient tile inkstone should be used as a receptacle for writing-ink. Since it has come through such a checkered history \u2014 originally part of Cao Cao's Bronze Sparrow Tower roof, then surviving repeated battles over the centuries, sullied and worn down by blood, moss and earth, before being carved out into something useful \u2014 it must therefore contain an essential strangeness helping it to endure. Thus, those who grind their block of ink on this tile mix some of its mysterious power with that ink, and can produce writing like Xie's, \"sturdy as a crossbow,\/His phrases . . . lean, his diction venerable, suiting his boldness of gesture.\" Ouyang has no such talent, he declares, yet still hordes the tile, taking it 1 3 7 1 haven't found a specific reference to swords made in Lu (around present Shandong Province), but Ouyang was a connoisseur of antiques, and composed a poem on an ancient Japanese sword. See Ji vol. 1, 6.77; and full translation by Watson in Yoshikawa 10-12. 183 wherever he goes. Unable to channel the tile's latent force into writing, Ouyang experiences its less benign effects: his mind becomes agitated and his mood turbulent; in his travels winds and waves rise up against him; he constantly fears the tile will transform into a monster. Earlier, I suggested that in Ouyang's poetry certain objects with their origin in a wild mountain environment may still contain the elemental powers of those former surroundings, even when moved to a civilized, small-scale setting. Here, a similar process occurs with an ancient, man-made object, which has survived through centuries of conflict and suffering to become part of a scholar's everyday equipment. It bears somewhere within itself all the traces of that heroic, terrible history. And what exactly is that history? It is what Ouyang sets down in the first two-thirds of the poem; and as he writes, presumably he wets his brush in this very inkstone! This last poem is quite an extreme example of the imaginative depth and power which Ouyang discerns in an everyday object or activity. Yet comparing the work with those above, on eating and drinking, sleeping and cultural products, there is a similar dynamic at work. Continually, Ouyang seeks the creative source of objects in the natural world or in the ancient past; constantly he finds some kind of hope or consolation amidst the ruins and decay of aging; he includes all aspects of daily life, transforming them into significant, entertaining events; he displays deep appreciation for ordinary human pleasures and natural beauties, and for the talents and generosity of others. Finally, he never loses sight of the essential balance between indulging in cultural or political pursuits and retaining a humane and sympathetic regard for those in the real world surrounding him. 184 Chapter 4: Everyday Environment \u2014 Buildings, Gardens, Creatures, Plants In the previous chapter, I pointed out the continuous presence of the natural world behind Ouyang's cultural and everyday activities. Particularly important in his poems on these topics was his tendency to seek out the distant source of everyday objects in a dynamic natural environment, and to derive a deep spiritual inspiration from that source. In this chapter, I concentrate on Ouyang's immediate surroundings rather than his activities. As I will show in the first section, in Ouyang's view, buildings and other human structures gain virtually their whole significance and character from their natural environment. In his poetry, they function as another excellent image for the blending of the natural or cosmic world with the human world. In this regard, Ouyang's poems on buildings continue the concerns of the preceding chapter. However, in the second and third sections of this chapter, on his poems about the individual plants and animals which constitute that natural environment, we discover a quite different emphasis. Here, Ouyang deliberately and obtrusively brings the human world into his poetic description, implying that perhaps the natural world is not quite complete in itself without the features human beings can bring to it. I discuss in detail the important techniques Ouyang adopts in these poems to juxtapose human and natural worlds, including wit and caricature, and a kind of spurious argumentation which I have termed \"caricatured reasoning.\" In the course of my analysis, I suggest the ways in which such techniques add emotional and intellectual depth to what could arguably be termed trivial subject matter. Also, especially in the final section on plants, I show briefly how Ouyang gradually evolved his distinctive, witty approach: an area to which I will return in my concluding chapter below. 185 To open the discussion, I will translate a work Ouyang composed on a pavilion, or more accurately a villa, constructed by his friend Su Shunqin. The poem indicates admirably Ouyang's view of the intimate relation between a building, with its human occupant, and the natural surroundings. The pavilion, in present Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, was Su's home after his disgrace and exile for alleged slander of the Emperor during a party in the capital.1 Green Waves Pavilion [ 1047]. Zimei sent me a Chant of Green Waves, Inviting me to write with him a Green Waves composition! Green Waves is certainly scenic, but since I'm unable to go there, 41 can't help gazing towards the East, my heart consumed with longing.2 1 For this poem, see Ji vol. 1, 1.28-29. Also in Xuanji 116. Ji notes that one manuscript of this poem bears the subtitle \"Inscription Sent to Zimei [i.e. Su Shunqin].\" For Su's disgrace, see James T.C. Liu, Ou-yang Hsiu 49-50. 2 Green Waves is a translation of the Chinese canglang $ | $ L The associations of this term are relevant to an understanding of the poem. Though in ancient times, Canglang was used as the name for at least 4 rivers or sections of rivers, all connected in some way with the Han River (flowing mainly through present Hubei Province), for literary purposes, reference works tend to quote as its source a passage from Mencius, Bk.4, part A, sect.8, which in Lau's translation reads: \"There was a boy who sang, 'If the blue water ($1 ^ 7JC) is clear\/It is fit to wash my chinstrap.\/If the blue water is muddy\/It is only fit to wash my feet.' Confucius said, 'Listen to this, my little ones. When clear, the water washes the chin-strap; when muddy, it washes the feet. The water brings this difference in treatment upon itself Only when a man invites insult will others insult him.\" See D.C. Lau, trans., Mencius (Middlesex, England: Penguin 1970; rep. 1984) 121; Chinese text in Zhu X i [Song], ed., Si shu zhangju jizhu (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju 1983) 280. The colour of the water here is described by commentators as qing i i f , which Lau translates \"blue\" but which includes a range of tones from blue to green, as the following note on the Lushi chunqiu 8 R i ^ shenshi ^ Brf section, by the Qing commentator B i Yuan i f l fit (1730-1797) shows: \"Canglang ( J f