Li Shang-yin (c. 813–c. 858)
1. Definitely Won’t Come!
1. An intoxicated guest deserting the feast (won’t come to take farewell).
2. A guest making off with the spoons.
3. Noblemen’s servants when sent for.
4. A dog whistled by one holding a stick.
5. Singing-girls invited by a hard-up scholar.
2. Incongruities
1. A poor Persian.
2. A sick physician.
3. A (Buddhist) disciple not addicted to drink.
4. Keepers of granaries coming to blows.1
5. A great fat bride.
6. An illiterate teacher.
7. A pork-butcher reciting sūtras.
8. A village elder riding in an open chair.
9. A grandfather visiting courtesans.
3. Shameful
1. A new wife careless of the proprieties.
2. A pregnant nun.
3. Wrestlers with swollen faces.
4. A rich man suddenly poor.2
5. A maid offending public opinion.
6. A son in mourning getting drunk.
4. Guilty Secrets
1. Kidnapping another’s children.
2. Seducing another’s concubine.
3. Dodging the Customs.
4. A robber’s cache.
5. Not to Be Despised
1. Coarse food when hungry.
2. A poor steed when traveling afoot.
3. A second-class seat after a long walk.
4. Cold broth to drink when thirsty.
5. A small boat when traveling in haste.
6. A small house in a storm.
6. Reluctant
1. A new wife to see strangers.
2. A poor devil to contribute to a feast.
3. A poor family to make marriages.
4. To visit retired officials.
5. A pregnant woman to go afoot.
7. No Alternative3
1. Drinking wine when ill.
2. Attending meetings in hot weather.
3. Beating children without explanation.
4. Being ceremonious when sweating.
5. Being cauterized when in pain.
6. Abusing one’s concubine at the behest of one’s wife.
7. Receiving visitors in hot weather.
8. Applying to resign on account of old age.
9. Entertaining guests in a miserable temple.
8. Resemblances
1. A metropolitan official, like a winter melon, grows in the dark.
2. A raven, like a hard-up scholar, croaks 4 when hungry and cold.
3. A seal, like an infant, always hangs about one.
4. A magistrate, like a tiger, is vicious when disturbed.
5. Nuns, like rats, go into deep holes.
6. Swallows, like nuns, always go in pairs.
7. A slave, like a cat, finding any warm corner, stays.
9. “’Tis Folly to Be Wise”
1. A hard-up scholar who knows about music spoils his career.
2. A woman who knows about poetry gets herself talked about.
3. A priest who knows about drink breaks his vows.
4. A wretched slave who knows about reading makes mistakes.
5. A young man who knows about alchemy invites poverty.
6. A scholar who knows about manual work demeans himself.
10. Passing Hates
1. Squabbles between man and wife.
2. Finding fault with a concubine.
3. Bad temper shown by underlings of a high official.
4. Abuse of his staff by a corrupt official.
5. Debauched monks and nuns maligning a novice.
11. Vexations
1. Happening upon a tasty dish when one’s liver is out of order.
2. Making a night of it and the drinks giving out.
3. For one’s back to itch when calling upon a superior.
4. For the lights to fail just when the luck begins to favor one at cards.
5. Inability to get rid of a worthless poor relation.
6. A man cleaning out a well who has to go to the toilet in a hurry.
12. The Name Without the Reality
1. A student who does not study the appointed themes is not a real student.
2. A mourner who feels no grief when condoling with the bereaved is not a real mourner.
3. An old servant who neither tidies things away nor chatters about family affairs is not a real old servant.
4. A host who escorts a guest no farther than the door is not a real host.
5. A cook without an apron or a knife and chopping-block is not a real cook.
6. A teacher who does not correct his pupil’s exercises and studies is not a real teacher.
7. Underlings who do not squabble and curse are not real underlings.
8. A head of a family who does not check his possessions regularly is not a real head.
9. A servant who is slovenly in his dress is not a real servant.
10. A guest who sends his host no word of thanks after a feast is not a real guest.
11. An officer who mutters replies and marches lazily is not a real officer.
13. Ambiguity
1. Only of a poor gift does one say, “Can it be repaid?”
2. Only of an ugly bride does one say, “She is my fate!”
3. Only of a nobody does one say, “T’ai Kung met King Wen at eighty.”5
4. Only of a poor appointment does one say, “It’s a place to make a living.”
5. Only to be rude to a guest does one say, “Make yourself at home.”
6. Only of a poor dwelling does one say, “It’s quite all right to live in.”
7. Only those incapable of making a living for themselves rail at their ancestors.
14. Indications of Prosperity
1. Horses neighing.
2. Candles guttering.
3. Chestnut husks.
4. Lichee shells.6
5. Flower petals flying about.
6. The twittering of orioles and swallows.7
7. The sound of reading aloud.8
8. Dropped hair ornaments.
9. A flute being played in a lofty belvedere.
10. The sound of pounding drugs and rolling tea.
15. Misleading Statements
1. To say that a courtesan feels affection.
2. To say that alchemy brings wealth.
3. To say that official work gets its reward.
4. To say that one is on intimate terms with one’s master.
5. To say what income one derives from one’s land.
6. To say that one’s concubine is young.
7. A needy magistrate prating about official probity.
8. To say of oneself that one studies hard.
9. To boast of the cost of one’s possessions.9
16. Humors of Low Life
1. A rural magistrate transferred to the city.
2. The way being cleared for a village magistrate.10
3. A village magistrate entertaining guests.
4. A mule braying in the village.
5. A country lout calling chickens.
6. A rustic with new clothes.
7. Playing the flute on cowback.
8. A beggar driving out the demon of pestilence.
9. Unofficial performers on the “single-stick” drum.
17. Disheartening
1. Cutting with a blunt knife.
2. Catching the wind in a torn sail.
3. Trees shutting out the view.
4. Building a wall that hides the mountains.
5. No wine at blossom time.
6. A summer feast spread out of the breeze.
18. Dismaying
1. To infringe on another’s taboo.
2. To meet an enemy.
3. To meet a creditor.
4. To blunder at a reception.
5. To hear one’s drunken remarks when sober.
19. Desecration (spoiling the scenery)
1. To be “moved on” when enjoying flowers.
2. To weep when looking at flowers.
3. To spread a mat on moss.
4. To cut down a weeping poplar.
5. To dry small clothes amid flowers.
6. To carry a load on a spring jaunt.
7. To tether a horse to a decorative stone pillar.
8. To bring a lamp into moonlight.
9. To talk banalities at a musical banquet.
10. To plant cabbages in a fruit garden.
11. To build a pavilion that shuts out the mountains.
12. To keep poultry under a flower-stand.
20. Unbearable
1. A lonely house and gibbons crying.
2. The coarse talk of the marketplace.
3. Sounds from the threshing floor at a wayside inn in autumn.
4. A young wife mourning her husband.
5. An old man mourning his son.
6. A magpie 11 after “flunking.”
7. Beggars calling at night.
8. The sound of music when in mourning.
9. To hear one has graduated among the first three and die forthwith.
21. A Waste
1. Being ill at blossom time.
2. Being harassed in fine weather.
3. A eunuch with a handsome wife.
4. A festival day in a poor home.
5. A well-to-do family at loggerheads.
6. A poverty-stricken family with a taste for flowers.
7. Seeing a beautiful view and not making a poem.
8. A fine house and no entertaining.
22. Unendurable
1. The hot season by a fat man.
2. To go home to an ill-tempered wife.
3. To come across greedy and tyrannical superiors.
4. Colleagues with bad habits.
5. A long journey in the hot season.
6. Long contact with a coarse person.
7. A wet day in a boat with leaky awnings.
8. Dirt and damp in a poor cottage.
9. An officious official.
23. Hard to Bear
1. Priests joking with courtesans.
2. Servants imitating the behavior of scholars.
3. Juniors behaving arrogantly to their betters.
4. Servants and concubines cutting into the conversation.
5. Soldiers and rustics trying to talk like scholars.
24. The Power of Suggestion
1. Wearing green in winter makes one feel cold.
2. Seeing red in summer makes one feel hot.
3. Entering the shrine of a good spirit suggests seeing a bad one.
4. A nun with a big belly makes one think of pregnancy.
5. Heavy curtains suggest someone lurking.
6. Passing a butcher’s gives a frowzy feeling.
7. Seeing water cools one.
8. Seeing plum trees makes one’s mouth water.
25. Bad Form
1. To wrangle with one’s fellow guests.
2. To fall from one’s polo pony.
3. To smoke in the presence of superiors.
4. Priests and nuns lately returned to ordinary life.
5. To vociferate orders at a banquet.
6. To cut into the conversation.
7. To fall asleep in somebody’s bed with one’s boots on.
8. To preface remarks with a giggle.
9. To kick over the table when a guest.
10. To sing love songs in the presence of one’s father- or mother-in-law.
11. To reject distasteful food and put it back on the dish.
12. To lay chopsticks across a soup-bowl.
26. Inopportune
1. To talk books in the presence of a nobody.
2. To recite poems to a courtesan.
3. To claim relationship with an exalted person.
4. To be hospitable at the expense of one’s master.
5. To return half-eaten food to the host.
6. To take children to a banquet.
7. To boast of the cleverness of one’s children.
8. To encourage children to be silly and spoiled.
9. To find fault with the dishes at a banquet.
10. To insist upon the latest fashion.
11. To hinder one’s host by sitting on after a meal.
12. To ask one’s host the price of his food.
13. To be on friendly terms with a widow.
14. To eat another’s food and not defer to him.
15. To make the lender come for a borrowed article.
16. To pick up things and examine them in another person’s rooms.
17. To be ungrateful to a benefactor.
18. To pick fruit in another’s garden.
19. To talk big when hard up.
20. To play the rich man when poor.
21. To be a visitor and call oneself a guest.12
22. To stay overly long when invited to a summer banquet.
27. Mortifications
1. Failure of an honored guest to accept one’s invitation.
2. The arrival of a hated person 13 uninvited.
3. To be unable to rid oneself of a drunken man.
4. To be penniless when things are cheap.
5. To go for a stroll and run across a creditor.
6. To find oneself seated next to an enemy.
7. To meet a disliked person on a hot day.
8. To have a lovely concubine and a jealous wife.
28. Stupidities
1. To have money and not pay off debts.
2. To recognize one’s faults and be unable to reform.
3. To listen to another’s conversation and contradict him sharply.
4. To read another’s essay and assail it violently.
5. To be blind to one’s own failings but violently disapprove of another’s.
6. To guess wrongly in a drinking game but refuse to pay the forfeit.14
7. Trying hard to pose as wealthy when poor.
29. Foolishness
1. To discuss a man’s faults behind his back.
2. To love betraying secrets.
3. To destroy one’s family for love of wine.
4. To be a suborned witness.
5. Deceitfully to hasten to flatter.
6. To blab abroad the shortcomings of one’s relatives.
7. To demand division of property while parents are alive.
8. To be ignorant of the order of precedence in an assembly or a wedding.
9. To cherish resentment and yet expect forgiveness.
10. To be kind to a man and expect gratitude.
30. Contemporary Crazes
1. Unreasoning jealousy.
2. Invoking the Spirits in one’s cups.
3. A son in mourning reciting ditties.
4. A son in mourning for his parents going to cock-fights and dog-races.
5. Enemies remembering those who were kind.
6. Adults flying kites.
7. Supporting idlers.
8. Women cursing in public.
9. Selling property to defray wedding or funeral expenses.
10. Mortgaging one’s house and lands.
31. Improper
1. To call upon sons and grandsons to testify to one’s virtue.
2. To hail a maternal uncle as an “unc” during one’s mother’s lifetime.
3. To call wife or younger brother in the presence of one’s parents.
4. To uphold one’s wife and blame one’s elders.
5. To sacrifice to the dead and yet play music.
6. To walk straight into another’s private rooms.
32. Things Gone Awry
1. Good parents lacking good sons.
2. A good son lacking a good wife.
3. A good daughter lacking a good husband.
4. Having money and not being able to use it.
5. Having fine clothes and not being able to wear them.
6. A fine dwelling left unswept.
7. Having silk and not making clothes.
8. Having a beautiful color and not knowing how to match it.
9. Being obliged to set a beloved concubine to do menial tasks.
10. Grudging the money to get treatment when sick.
11. Letting children grow up untaught.
12. Having a library and not knowing how to read.
13. Going to bed early on moonlit nights.
14. Looking at beautiful flowers and neither reciting poetry nor drinking wine.
15. Failing to enjoy fine scenery when near it.
16. Having delicately flavored food and yet being stingy enough to hoard rancid bean-curd.
17. An official demanding probity in others and himself breaking the law against bribes.
18. Wasting one’s talents in idling.
19. Having power and not using it to do good.
20. In youth loving ease and learning nothing.
33. Unlucky
1. To eat lying down.
2. To sigh for nothing.
3. To sing in bed.
4. To eat bareheaded.
5. To write bareheaded.
6. To swear an oath involving one’s parents.
7. To beat one’s breast while cursing another.15
8. To sit on matting on which a corpse has lain.
9. To go to the toilet or let down one’s hair in the light of the sun or moon.
10. To dip spoon or chopsticks in the bowl before the meal begins.
34. Poverty Is Inevitable When One—
1. Has a lazy wife.
2. Lies long abed.
3. Brings up a boy to be inferior to his father.
4. Runs into debt.
5. Does not check storehouse lists.
6. Neglects one’s farm.
7. Throws away food or wine.
8. Likes gambling or drinking.
9. Fills storerooms with useless objects.
10. Is careless about grain.
11. Wastes one’s estate in the pursuit of pleasure.
12. Is not thrifty.
13. Maintains many concubines.
14. Is always changing one’s residence.
15. Frequents the company of the powerful and rich.
16. Is economical to the point of meanness.
17. Insists on buying when things are dear.
18. Does not buy when things are cheap.
19. Tries too many smart tricks.
20. Screens the members of one’s family when they do wrong.
35. Wealth Is Assured When One—
1. Seeks diligently and uses sparingly.
2. Widens knowledge by practical experience.
3. Frequently takes stock of family affairs.
4. Is not infatuated with wine and women.
5. Does not fail to collect debts.
6. Has slaves who understand plowing and maids who understand weaving.
7. Sleeps by night and rises early.
8. Rears stock.
9. Tills in proper season.
10. Stores up when the season arrives.
11. Has apprentices who work in harmony.
12. Has a wife who does not believe in Buddha.
13. Has womenfolk who all agree.
14. Can put up with hardships.
15. Keeps an inventory of one’s valuables.
16. Gathers the “mites” that make the “muckle.”
17. Catches the market.
18. Does not damage his possessions.
36. They Are Wise and Capable Who—
1. Keep their natures within moderate bounds.
2. Are discreet in secret matters.
3. Associate with the wise.
4. Are wide awake in a crisis.
5. Do not babble in their cups.
6. Respect other people’s taboos.
7. Are acquainted with things ancient and modern.
8. Do not practice meannesses.
9. Boast not unbecomingly.
10. Esteem the virtuous.
11. Join not themselves to the meaner sort.
12. Credit not blindly the words of servants.
13. When they enter a house inquire its tabooed words.
14. Inquire about the customs of any state they enter.
15. Are on the alert at night.
16. Ask when in doubt.
17. Do not argue with fools.
18. Do not speak much after drinking.
37. Train a Son to—
1. Learn the ancestral business.
2. Keep faith.
3. Be ceremonious, just, moderate, modest.
4. Be thoroughly versed in the six arts.16
5. Converse intelligently.
6. Be dignified in social intercourse.
7. Be loyal, true, respectful, economical.
8. Be filial, reverent, kindly, gracious.
9. Read widely and hold liberal views.
10. Make friends with the worthy.
11. Avoid becoming a slave to amusement.
12. Practice restraint.
13. Be resourceful.
38. Train a Daughter to—
1. Learn women’s duties.
2. Discuss food and drink.
3. Be meek, true, respectful, thrifty.
4. Be attractive in person and manner.
5. Learn writing and reckoning.
6. Be careful to speak softly.
7. Remain pure and chaste in the inner apartments.
8. Sing no ditties.
9. Avoid gossip.
10. Serve her elders well.
39. Lapses
1. Talking to people with one’s hat off.
2. Scolding another’s servants.
3. Boring a hole in the wall to spy upon neighbors.
4. Entering a house without knocking.
5. Being careless about dripping snot or spitting on the mat.
6. Going into the room and sitting down uninvited.
7. Opening other people’s boxes and letters.
8. Lifting chopsticks before the host’s signal.
9. Laying down chopsticks before all have finished eating.
10. Stretching across the table to reach things.
40. Presumption
1. Seeing another man’s dispatches and insisting on opening and reading them.
2. Seeing another man’s saddled horse and insisting on riding it.
3. Seeing another man’s bow and arrows and insisting on trying them.
4. Seeing another man’s possessions and insisting on appraising them.
5. Criticizing another’s composition.
6. Settling another’s domestic affairs.
7. Taking part in another’s quarrel.
8. Deciding in a dispute.
41. Want of Judgment
1. To abuse another without saying why.
2. To join in a scheme without investigation.
3. For a layman to imitate the ways of the priesthood.
4. Not to discriminate between right and wrong in a matter.
5. To allow a son to take up music.
6. To allow a son to cage animals.
7. For a man to learn women’s work.
8. To be on the lookout for petty advantages.
42. Some Don’ts
1. Don’t drink to intoxication.
2. Don’t enter a widow’s house alone.
3. Don’t go alone in the dark.
4. Don’t consort with rogues.
5. Don’t take things for fun and say nothing about it.
6. Don’t open another’s private letters.
7. Don’t borrow without returning promptly.
Translated by E. D. Edwards
Li Shang-yin is best known for his imagistic, recondite poetry (see selection 51). This Miscellany (Yi-shan tsa tsuan), which is not included in his collected works, reveals Li as capable of writing blunt, earthy prose as well (if, indeed, he is the actual author; the attribution is doubtful). The four hundred sayings are grouped under forty-two heads. Although they vividly reflect the manners and morals of the period in which the book was written, many of them are still applicable to life in all Chinese communities today. The language, too, is astonishingly modern.
1. Too well fed to fight. Another version is “Lean men fighting,” Chinese wrestlers and boxers being always fat and heavy.
2. The wealthy are respected and loss of wealth involves loss of respect.
3. I.e., things done only if there is no alternative.
4. Yin, to croak, also to hum over verses when composing.
5. T’ai Kung (“Grand Duke”), a high state official, retired into exile to avoid the tyranny of Chow Hsin, last ruler of the Yin (i.e., Shang) dynasty. Years later King Wen, founder of the Chou dynasty, which overthrew the Yin in 1122 B.C.E., saw T’ai Kung (who was then eighty years old) fishing and invited him to become his chief adviser.
6. Chestnuts and lichees are luxuries.
7. This refers to the birdlike sound of women’s voices.
8. Leisure to enjoy literature and music.
9. Literally, “vessels, dishes.”
10. It is not a prerogative of the village magistrate to have the road cleared for his sedan-chair, as it is for higher-ranking officials.
11. The call of the magpie denotes good luck.
12. I.e., claim the privileges of a guest.
13. Literally, “a bad guest.”
14. Guessing games to encourage drinking were (and are) common in many forms, the penalty for an error being to drink a cup of wine.
15. Curses are apt to light upon the person pointed at, and an angry man beating his own breast inadvertently indicates himself as the object of his curses.
16. Propriety, music, archery, charioteering, writing, and mathematics, i.e., the sum of education.