# The Jade Mountain/Chinese poetry

II
CHINESE POETRY
by Kiang Kang-hu
Poems of the Early Period
Chinese Poetry began with our written history about 5500 years ago. The oldest poems now extant were written by the Emperor Yao (2357 B.C.); and one of them was adopted as the Chinese national song in the beginning of the Republic, because Yao was in reality a life president of the most ancient republic in the world, and this poem expresses the republican spirit. Shun and Yii, the other two sagacious presidents, left with us also some poems. Their works, together with other verses by following emperors and statesmen, may be found in our classics and official histories.
In the Chou Dynasty (1122-256 B.C.) poetry became more important, not only to individual and social life, but also to the government. Emperors used to travel over all the feudal states and to collect the most popular and typical poems or songs. The collection being then examined by the official historians and musicians, public opinion and the welfare of the people in the respective states would thus be ascertained and attested. In the ceremonies of sacrifice, inter-state convention, official banquet, and school and military exercises, various poems were sung and ​harmonized with music. Poetry in this period was not a special literary task for scholars, but a means of expression common to both sexes of all classes.
The Classical Poems
One of the five Confucian classics is the Book of Poetry. It is a selection of poems of the Chou Dynasty, classified under different types. This selection was made by Confucius out of the governmental collections of many states. It contains three hundred and eleven poems, all of high standard, both as literature and as music. Since the loss of the Confucian Book of Music during the period of the Great Destruction (221-211 B.C.) the musical significance of this classic can hardly be traced, but its literary value remains and the distinction of the classical poems, which can never be duplicated.
Poems Since the Han Dynasty
The classical poems were usually composed of lines of four characters, or words, with every other line rhymed. Lines were allowed, however, of more or fewer words. Under the reign of the Emperor Wu (140-87 B.C.) of the Western Han Dynasty new types of poetry were introduced; and the five-character and sevenècharacter poems became popular and have dominated ever since. The Emperor himself invented the latter; while Li Ling and Su Wu, two of his statesmen-generals, wrote their verses in the former type. The number of characters of each line was uniform; no irregular line might occur. These two types were afterwards named the "ancient" or "unruled" poems. Nearly all poems before the T'ang Dynasty were in this form. The Emperor Wu introduced ​also the Po Liang style, which is a seven-character poem with every line rhyming in the last word. Po Liang was the name of a pavilion in the Emperor's garden where, while he banqueted his literary attendants, each wrote one line to complete a long poem. This has been a favourite game among Chinese poets.
The Poems of the T'ang Dynasty
As many a dynasty in Chinese history is marked by some phase of success representing the thought and life of that period, the T'ang Dynasty is commonly recognized as the golden age of poetry. Beginning with the founder of the dynasty, down to the last ruler, almost every one of the emperors was a great lover and patron of poetry, and many were poets themselves. A special tribute should be paid to the Empress Wu Chao or the "Woman Emperor" (684—704), through whose influence poetry became a requisite in examinations for degrees and an important course leading to official promotion. This made every official as well as every scholar a poet. The poems required in the examination, after long years of gradual development, followed a formula, and many regulations were established. Not only must the length of a line be limited to a certain number of characters, usually five or seven, but also the length of a poem was limited to a certain number of lines, usually four or eight or twelve. The maintenance of rhymes, the parallelism of characters, and the balance of tones were other rules considered essential. This is called the "modern" or "ruled" poetry. In the Ch'ing or Manchu Dynasty the examination poem "was standardized as a five-character-line poem of sixteen lines with every other line rhymed. This "eight-rhyme" poem was accompanied by the famous " eight-legged" literature (a form of ​literature divided into eight sections) as a guiding light for entrance into mandarin life.
The above-mentioned rules of poetry applied first only to examination poems. But afterwards they became a common exercise with "modern" or "ruled" poems in general. Chinese poetry since the T'ang Dynasty has followed practically only two forms, the "modern" or "ruled," form and the "ancient" or "unruled" form. A poet usually writes both. The "eight-rhyme" poem, however, was practised for official examinations only.
The progress of T'ang poetry may be viewed through a division into four periods, as distinguished by different styles and a differing spirit. There were, of course, exceptional works, especially at the transient points, and it is difficult to draw an exact boundaryline between any two periods. The first period is approximately from A.p. 620 to 700, the second from 700 to 780, the third from 780 to 850, and the fourth from 850 to goo. The second period, corresponding to the summer season of the year, is regarded as the most celebrated epoch. Its representative figures are Li Po (705-762), the genie of poetry; Tu Fu, (712-720), the sage of poetry; Wang Wêi (699-759) and Mêng Hao-jan (689—740), the two hermit-poets, and Ts'ên Ts'an (given degree, 744) and Wêi Ying-wu (about 840-830), the two magistrate-poets. The first period is represented by Chang Yüeh (667-730) and Chang Chiuling (673-740), two premiers, and by Sung Chih-wên (died 710) and Tu Shên-yen (between the seventh and the eighth centuries); the third, by Yuan Chên (779-832) and Po Chü-yi (772-846), two cabinet ministers, and by Han Yü (768-824) and Liu Tsungyüan (773-819), two master literati more famous for their prose writing than for their verse; and the fourth, by Wên T'ing-yün ​(ninth century) and Li Shang-yin (813-858), the founders of the Hsi K'un school, and by Hsü Hun (given degree, 832) and Yao Hê (A.D. 9th century). All these poets had their works published in a considerable number of volumes. Secondary poets in the T'ang Dynasty were legion.
Poems after the Tang Dynasty
Since the T'ang Dynasty, poetry has become even more popular. Its requirement as one of the subjects in the governmental examinations has continued, for a thousand years, to the end of the last century, through all changes of dynasty. Many great poets have arisen during this time. Su Shih (1036-1101), Huang T'ing-chien (1050-1110), Ou-yang Hsiu (1007-1072) and Lu Yu (11251209), of the Sung Dynasty, are names as celebrated as those great names of the second period of the T'ang Dynasty. But people still honour the works of the T'ang poets as the model for ever-coming generations, though many of more varied literary taste prefer the Sung works.
Chao Mêng-fu (1254-1322) of the Yüan Dynasty and Yüan Hao-wên (1190-1258) of the Kin Dynasty were the shining stars of that dark age. Many poets of the Ming Dynasty, such as Liu Chi (1311-1375), Sung Lien (1310-1381), Li Tung-yang (1447-1516), and Ho Ching-ming (1483-1521) were very famous. Still greater poets lived in the Ch'ing Dynasty. Ch'ien Ch'ien-yi (1581-1664), Wu Wêi-yeh (1609-1671), Wang Shih-chêng (1526-1593), Chao Yi (1727-1814), Chiang Shih-ch'üan (1725-1784), Yuan Mêi (1715-1797), Huang Ching-jên (1749-1783), and Chang Wênt'ao (1764-1814) are some of the immortals. Their works are by no means inferior to those in the previous dynasties.
​Literature differs from science. It changes according to times and conditions, but shows, on the whole, neither rapid improvement nor gradual betterment. Later writings might appear to be more expressive and therefore more inspiring, but the dignity and beauty of ancient works are inextinguishable and even unapproached. This is especially true of poetry and of the T'ang poems, for the reason that during those three hundred years the thinking capacity and the working energy of all excellent citizens in the Empire were encouraged and induced to this single subject. Neither before nor after has there been such an age for poetry.
Selections of the Tang Poems
Hundreds of collections and selections of T'ang poems have been published during the succeeding dynasties. Two compiled in the Ch'ing Dynasty are considered the best. One is the Complete Collection of T'ang Poems and the other is the Three Hundred T'ang Poems. These two have no similarity in nature and in purpose. The first is an imperial edition aiming to include every line of existing T'ang poetry: which amounts to 48,900 poems by 2,200 poets in 900 volumes. The second is but a small text-book for elementary students, giving only 311 better-known works by 77 of the better-known writers, the same number of poems as in the .Confucian Classic of Poetry. This selection was made by an anonymous editor who signed himself "Hêng T'ang T'uêi Shih" or "A Retired Scholar at the Lotus Pool," first published in the reign of the Emperor Ch'ien Lung (1735-1795). The title of this selection was based upon a common saying: "By reading thoroughly three hundred T'ang poems, one will write verse without learning."
​In the preface the compiler assures us that "this is but a family reader for children; but it will hold good until our hair is white." This statement, as years have passed, has proved true. The collection has always stood in China as the most popular volume of poetry, for poets and for the mass of the people alike. Even illiterates are familiar with the title of the book and with lines from it. Other selections may be of a higher standard and please scholars better, but none can compare with this in extensive circulation and accessible influence.
The anthology in Chinese is in two volumes. The first contains all "ancient" or "unruled" poems, and the second all "modern" or "ruled" poems. The former is again divided into two parts of five-character lines and seven-character lines, the latter into four parts: (1) eight five-character lines, (2) eight seven-character lines, (3) four five-character lines, and (4) four seven-character lines. In learning Chinese poems the order is always reversed. The shorter line of fewer characters should come first. We have, however, rearranged the volume in English, according to poets rather than to poetic technique, the poets following one another in the alphabetical order of their surnames. (The surname in Chinese comes first.) Under each poet we have kept the following order of poems:
* Modern poems of four five-character lines.
* Modern poems of four seven-character lines.
* Modern poems of eight five-character lines.
* Modern poems of eight seven-character lines.
* Ancient poems of five-character lines.
* Ancient poems of seven-character lines.
Various Poetic Regulations and Forms
There are more strict regulations in writing poems in Chinese than in any other language. This is because Chinese is the only living language governed by the following rules: First, it is made of individual hierographic characters; second, each character or word is monosyllabic; and third, each character has its fixed tone. Hence certain very important regulations in Chinese poetry are little considered or even unknown to the poetry of other languages. For instance, the avoidance of using a word twice, the parallelism of words of the same nature and the balancing of words of different tones, all need special preliminary explanation.
The first of these regulations is possible only in Chinese poetry. We find many long poems with hundreds or even thousands of characters, and not a single one repeated, as in the form of p'ai-lü or "arranged rule." The second means that all the characters of one line should parallel as parts of speech those of the next line; thus noun with noun, adjective with adjective, verb with verb, etc. Even in the same parts of speech, nouns designating animals should be parallel, adjectives of colour, numbers, etc. The third means that all the characters of a line should balance, in the opposite group of tones, those of the next line. There are five tones in the Chinese written language. The first is called the upper even tone; the second, the lower even tone; the third, the upper tone; the fourth, the departing tone; and the fifth, the entering tone. The first two are in one group, named "even tones," and the last three are in the other group and named "uneven tones." Thus, if any character in a line is of the even group, the character which balances with it in the next line should be of the uneven group, and vice versa.
​These strict regulations, though very important to "modern" or "ruled" poems, do not apply to "ancient" or "unruled" poems. The ancient form is very liberal. There are but two regulations for it—namely, a limit to the number of characters in each line, five or seven; and rhyme on the last character of every other line. The seven-character "ancient" poem gives even more leeway. It may have irregular lines of more or fewer characters, and every line may rhyme as in the Po Liang style.
There are also, as in English, perfect rhymes and allowable rhymes. The perfect rhymes are standardized by an Imperial Rhyming Dictionary. In this dictionary all characters are arranged, first according to the five tones, and then to different rhymes. The two even tones have 30 rhymes; the third, 29; the fourth, 30; and the fifth, a very short sound, only 17. These rhymes are so grouped, following the old classical pronunciation, that some rhyming words may seem to the modern ear discordant. The allowable rhymes include words that rhymed before the standard was made. The "modern" poem must observe perfect rhymes; the "ancient" poem is permitted allowable rhymes. Again, the former should use only one rhyme of the even tones; the latter may use many different rhymes of different tones in one poem.
The "modern" poem has also its fixed pattern of tones. There are four patterns for the five-character poems and four for the seven-character poems. The signs used in the following charts are commonly adopted in Chinese poetry:─indicates an even tone; │ indicates an uneven tone; ┬ indicates that the character should be of an even tone, but that an uneven is permitted; ┴ indicates the reverse; ⊝ indicates the rhyme.
TONE PATTERNS FOR FIVE-CHARACTER MODERN POEMS
| First line | First pair | First group |
| Second line | First pair | First group |
| Third line | Second pair | First group |
| Fourth line | Second pair | First group |
| Fifth line | Third pair | Second group |
| Sixth line | Third pair | Second group |
| Seventh line | Fourth pair | Second group |
| Eight line | Fourth pair | Second group |
TONE PATTERNS FOR SEVEN-CHARACTER MODERN POEMS
following poem:
This example shows us that in writing a "modern" or "ruled" poem many essential regulations are involved. They may be summed up in six rules:
* Limitation of lines (four or eight, though the p'ai lü or "arranged rule" poem may have as many lines as the writer likes).
* Limitation of characters in each line (five or seven).
* Observation of the tone pattern (the five-character-four-line poems in old times did not observe this rule strictly).
* Parallelism of the nature of words in each couplet (though the first and the last couplets may be exempted).
* Selection of a single rhyme from the even tones and rhyming the last characters of alternate lines (the second, the fourth, the sixth, and the eighth lines; sometimes the first line also). The five-character four-line poems in. the old days, however, were allowed rhymes from the uneven tones.
* Avoidance of using a character twice unless deliberately repeated for effect.
Thus we see the great difficulty in writing a "modern" poem. But poets have always believed that the "modern" poem, though difficult to learn, is easy to write, while the ancient " poem, though easy to learn, is very difficult to write well. Besides, the "modern" poem is constructed in a very convenient length. It enables the poet to finish his whole work while his thought is still fresh and inspiring; and, if necessary, he can express it in a series, ​either connected or separated. We find, ever since the T'ang Dynasty, most of the poets writing most of their poems in the "modern" forms.
Chinese Poetry in General
All the above statements treat only poems which are in Chinese called shih. This word is too narrow to correspond to the English word "poetry," which is more like the Chinese word "yün-wên," or rhythmic literature, and yet "yün-wên" has a broader content, for it includes also drama. There are, however, many other kinds of yün-wên besides shih, not only drama, but poetry in general. I will give a brief explanation of each; my idea being that the works we present in this volume, though the most common type of Chinese poetry, are but one of many types.
In the later part of the Chou Dynasty two new types of poetry were originated; one is the ch'u-ts'ŭ, by Ch'ü Yüan (fourth century, B.C.), and the other fu, by Hsün K'uang (fourth century B.C.). They are both, though rhymed, called rhythmic prose, and have been much practised ever since. The latter is more popular and used to be a subject in the official examinations. Since the Han Dynasty, the yüeh-fu, or poem "written for music," has been introduced into literature. We have a few examples in this volume in different forms. Because we do not sing them with their old music, which has vanished, they have practically lost their original quality, though still distinguished by title and style.
Another type of poetry, named ts'ŭ, was formulated in the second period of the T'ang Dynasty, but was not commonly practised until the last, or fourth, period. The Sung Dynasty is the golden age of the ts'ŭ poems and Li Ch'ing-chao and Chu Shu-chêng, two ​woman poets, are the most famous specialists. This form is composed of lines irregular, but according to fixed patterns. There are hundreds of patterns, each regulated as to the number of characters, group of tones, etc. In the same dynasty the ch'ü, or dramatic song, the t'an-ts'ŭ, or string song, and the ku-shu, or drum tale, were also brought into existence. The next dynasty, the Yüan or Mongol Dynasty, is known as the golden age of these forms of literature. Professional story-tellers or readers are found everywhere singing them with string instruments or drums. Besides these, the ch'uan-ch'i, or classical play, the chiao-pên, or common play, and the hsiao-tiao, or folk-song, are all very popular.
There are numberless Chinese poems written in the revolving order, to be read back and forth. The most amazing poems in human history are the Huêi-wên-t'ü or the revolving chart, by Lady Su Huêi, of the Chin Dynasty (265-419), and the Ch'ientzü-wên, or thousand-character literature, by Chou Hsing-ssü, (fifth century A.D.) The former is composed of eight hundred characters, originally woven in five colors on a piece of silk, being a love-poem written and sent to her husband, General Tou T'ao, who was then guarding the northern boundary against the Tartar invasion. The characters can be read from different ends in different directions and so form numerous poems. Four hundred have already been found, some short and some very long. It is believed that there are still more undiscovered. The latter, made of a thousand different characters, was a collection of stone inscriptions left by the master calligrapher, Wang Hsi-chih. They had been but loose characters in no order and with no connexion, but were arranged and rhymed as a perfect poem by Chou Hsing-ssŭ. The same thousand characters have been made into poems by ten or ​more authors; and these marvels in the poetical world can never be dreamed of by people who speak language other than Chinese!
All these various forms under various names are not shih in the Chinese sense, but are poetry in the English sense. Each of them possesses its own footing in the common ground of Chinese poetry. To make any remarks on Chinese poetry at large, or to draw any conclusions from it, one must take into consideration not only the shih, but all the various forms. I sometimes hear foreigners, as well as young Chinese students, blaming Chinese poems as being too stiff or confined. They do not realize that some forms of Chinese poetry are even freer than English free verse. They also criticize the Chinese for having no long poems, as other races have, ignoring the fact that many fu poems are thousands of lines long, with tens of thousands of characters, and that many rhythmic historical tales fill ten or more volumes, each volume following a single rhyme.
Kiang Kang-hu
Peking, China