CONTENTS

Introduction

Bibliographical Note

Acknowledgments

Map of the Provinces of China

PART I. FOUNDATIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS

Divinations and Inscriptions

  1. A Late Shang Divination Record

  2. A Bronze Inscription of the Western Chou

  3. The Book of Changes of the Chou People

  4. An Early Commentary on the Classic of Changes

Philosophy, Thought, and Religion

  5. Attributed to Kuan Chung, Kuan Tzu, “Duties of the Student”

  6. Anonymous, Confucian Analects, Book 2

  7. Meng K’o, Mencius, “Bull Mountain” and “Fish and Bear’s Paws”

  8. Chuang Chou, Chuang Tzu, Chapter 17 and other passages

  9. Attributed to Lao Tzu, The Classic Book of Integrity and the Way: Tao te ching

10. Attributed to Lieh Yü-k’ou, Lieh Tzu, “The Stupid Old Man Who Moved a Mountain”

11. Translated by Hsüan-tsang, Abhidharma-mahāvibhāā-śāstra, Chapter 99: “The Sins of Mahādeva”

Criticism and Theory

12. Hsiao T’ung, Preface to Literary Selections

13. Hsieh Ho, Preface to Record of the Classification of Old Painters

14. Yen Yü, Ts’ang-lang’s Discussions of Poetry, “An Analysis of Poetry”

15. Yüan Hao-wen, “Poems on Poetry, No. 30”

PART II. VERSE

Classical Poetry

16. Anonymous, Classic of Odes

17. Liu Chen, “Cockfight”

18. Juan Chi, “Songs of My Soul”

19. Kuo P’u, “Poem on the Wandering Immortal”

20. T’ao Ch’ien “Poems After Drinking Wine” (No. 5)

“On Reading the Mountains and Seas Classic

21. Hsieh Ling-yün, “On My Way from South Mountain to North Mountain, I Glance at the Scenery from the Lake”

22. Shen Yüeh, “Harmonizing with a Poem by Left Assistant Yü Kao-chih Requesting Sick Leave”

“Listening to Gibbons at Rock-Pool Creek”

23. Wang Seng-ju, “Describing a Dream for Someone”

24. Yü Chien-wu, “Spring Day”

25. Hsiao Kang, “A Pheasant on His Morning Flight”

26. Brahmacārin Wang, [Untitled]

27. Lo Pin-wang, “On the Cicada: In Prison”

28. Ho Chih-chang, “Written Impromptu upon Returning to My Hometown”

29. Ch’en Tzu-ang, “Poems of Reflection on the Vicissitudes of Life”

30. Chang Chiu-ling, “Poems of Reflection on the Vicissitudes of Life”

31. Wang Chih-huan, “Climbing the Stork Pavilion”

32. Meng Hao-jan, “Seeking Out Master Chan on Incense Mountain”

“Spring Dawn”

“Passing Seven-League Rapids”

33. Wang Ch’ang-ling, “Silent at Her Window”

34. Wang Wei, “Climbing Pien-chüeh Temple”

“Second Song for the Worship of the Goddess at Yü Mountain: ‘Bidding the Goddess Farewell”’

“Deer Enclosure”

35. Li Po, “To Meng Hao-jan”

“Late Bloomer at the Front of My Garden”

“To Send to Tu Fu as a Joke”

“Drinking Alone in the Moonlight” (No. 1)

“Still Night Thoughts”

“Poems in an Old Style”

36. Ch’u Kuang-hsi, “The Streets of Ch’ang-an”

37. Tu Fu, “Spring View”

“A Guest Arrives”

“Recruiting Officer of Shih-hao”

“At the Sky’s End, Thinking of Li Po”

38. Chang Chi, “Maple Bridge Night Mooring”

39. Ts’en Shen, “A Song of the Running Horse River: Presented on Saying Farewell to the Army Going on Campaign to the West”

40. Ssu-k’ung Shu, “In Illness, Dismissing My Singing Girl”

41. Meng Chiao, “On Failing the Examination”

42. Han Yü, “The Girl of Mount Hua”

43. Hsüeh T’ao, “Listening to a Monk Play the Reed Pipes”

“Lotus-Gathering Boat”

44. Liu Tsung-yüan, “River Snow”

45. Cold Mountain, [Untitled Poems]

46. Chia Tao, “Looking for a Recluse but Failing to Find Him”

47. Li Shen, “Pitying the Farmer”

48. Li Te-yü, “To Patriarch Sun at Hua-yang Grotto”

49. Li Ho, “At Ch’ang-ku, Reading: To Show to My Man Pa”

“My Man Pa Replies”

“Ravine on a Cold Evening”

50. Autumn Maid Tu, “The Robe of Golden Thread”

51. Li Shang-yin, “Master Chia”

52. P’i Jih-hsiu, “Impromptu on a Hangover”

53. Yü Hsüan-chi, “On a Visit to Ch’ung-chen Taoist Temple I See in the South Hall the List of Successful Candidates in the Imperial Examinations”

54. Mei Yao-ch’en, “Sharing Lodging with Hsieh Shih-hou in the Library of the Hsü Family and Being Much Bothered by the Noise of Rats”

“Shih-hou Pointed Out to Me That from Ancient Times There Had Never Been a Poem on the Subject of Lice, and Urged Me to Try Writing One”

55. Wang An-shih, “Bald Mountain”

56. Su Shih, “When Yü-k’o Painted Bamboo”

“Reading the Poetry of Meng Chiao”

“Lament of the Farm Wife of Wu”

57. Huang T’ing-chien, “To Go with Shih K’o’s Painting of an Old Man Tasting Vinegar”

58. Yang Wan-li, “Watching a Village Festival”

“Songs of Depression” (two selections)

59. Lu Yu, “The Merchant’s Joy”

“Written in a Carefree Mood”

“To Show to My Sons”

60. Wen T’ien-hsiang, “Chin-ling Post Station”

61. Chao Meng-fu, “To a Pyrotechnist”

62. Yang Wei-chen, “Mating”

63. Ni Tsan, “Inscribed on a Painting by Myself”

64. Hsü Pen, “Saying Goodbye to a Monk from Japan”

65. Kao Ch’i, “Written on Seeing the Flowers, and Remembering My Daughter”

“Silkworm Song of Torchlit Fields”

66. Yang Shih-ch’i, “Night Rain: A Wall Collapses”

67. Shen Chou, “The Taoist Huang Has Died of Alcoholism”

68. Yang Hsün-chi, “Inscribed on the Doors of My Bookshelves”

69. Chu Yün-ming, “A Fan from Korea”

70. Wang Chiu-ssu, “Ballad of Selling a Child”

71. Ho Ching-ming, “Ballad of the Government Granary Clerk”

72. Huang Ĕ, [Title Lost]

73. Li K’ai-hsien, “A Parable”

“Earthquake”

74. Hsü Wei, “A Buddhist Monk Cut and Burned His Own Flesh to Make the Rains Stop—a Man from His Native Place Asked Me to Write a Poem to Send to Him”

“A Kite”

75. Tsung Ch’en, “Song of Selling Flowers”

76. Mo Shih-lung, “Saying Good-bye to a Singing Girl Who Has Decided to Become a Nun”

77. T’ang Hsien-tsu, “Twenty-Two Quatrains on Receiving the Obituary Notice for My Son Shih-ch’ü”

78. Yüan Hung-tao, “The ‘Slowly, Slowly’ Poem”

“On Receiving My Letter of Termination”

79. Wu Chia-chi, “The Grain-Barge Wife”

80. Wu Li, “Singing of the Source of Holy Church”

81. Wang Shih-chen, “Medicine”

82. K’ang-hsi, “Lines in Praise of a Self-Chiming Clock”

83. Cheng Hsieh, “Song of Surfing on the Bore”

84. Yüan Mei, “On the Way to Pa-ling”

Lyrics and Arias

85. Attributed to Li Po, “A Suite in the Ch’ing-p’ing Mode”

86. Anonymous, Tune: “Magpie on the Branch”; a Lyric from Tun-huang

87. Liu Yü-hsi, Tune: “Memories of the South”; a Spring Lyric After Po Chü-yi

88. Wen T’ing-yün, Tune: “Deva-Like Barbarian”

89. Wei Chuang, Tune: “The Bodhisattva Foreigner”

90. Ou-yang Chiung, Tune: “Offering Congratulations to the Enlightened Reign”

91. Li Yü, Tune: “The Crow’s Nocturnal Cry”

Tune: “New Bounty of Royalty”

Tune: “Pure Serene Music”

Tune: “Memories of the South”; A Reminiscence

92. Liu Yung, Tune: “Bells Ringing in the Rain”; Sadness of Parting

93. Fan Chung-yen, Tune: “Sumuche Dancers”

94. Yen Shu, Tune: “Spring in the Jade House”

95. Ou-yang Hsiu, Tune: “Drunk in Fairyland”

96. Su Shih, Tune: “Partridge Sky”; Written While Banished to Huang-chou

Tune: “Fragrance Fills the Courtyard”

Tune: “Immortal by the River”

97. Huang T’ing-chien, Tune: “The Courtyard Full of Fragrance”; Tea

Tune: “A Thousand Autumns”

98. Ch’in Kuan, Tune: “Sand of Silk-Washing Brook”; A Spring Morning

Tune: “Perfumed Garden”; Bidding Adieu

99. Li Chih-yi, Tune: “The Diviner”

100. Chu Tun-ju, Tune: “Nien-nu Is Charming”

101. Li Ch’ing-chao, Tune: “Rouged Lips”; Naïveté

Tune: “Magnolia Flowers” (short version)

Tune: “Fisherman’s Pride”; A Dream

“A Long Melancholy Tune (Autumn Sorrow)”; Despair

Tune: “Spring at Wu Ling”; Spring Ends

102. Hsin Ch’i-chi, Tune: “Spring in the Ch’in Garden” (About to swear off drinking, he warns the wine cup to go away)

Tune: “Pure Serene Music”; Rural Life

103. Wu Wen-ying, Tune: “Rouged Lips”; Rain Just Over on the Night of the Lantern Preview

104. Chang Yen, Tune: “Pure Serene Music”

105. Kuan Han-ch’ing, In the Southern Mode, to the Tune of “A Sprig of Flowers”; The Refusal to Get Old

106. Tu Shan-fu, Tune, “Shua Hai-erh”; Country Cousin at the Theater

107. Ma Chih-yüan, Tune: “Heaven-Cleansed Sands”; Autumn Thoughts

108. Chang Yang-hao, [Untitled]

109. Kuan Yün-shih, Tune: “Rapt with Wine, Loudly Singing—Joy in Spring’s coming”; My Love

110. Wang Ho-ch’ing, Tune: “Tsui-chung T’ien”; To the Giant Butterfly

Tune: “Po Pu-tuan”; Long-Haired Little Dog

Tune: “Po Pu-tuan”; Fat Couple

111. Anonymous, Tune: “San-fan Yü-lou Jen”

112. Yang Na, Tune: “Hung Hsiu-hsieh”; To a Flea

113. Anonymous, Tune: “Wu Yeh-erh”; Twitting the Teller of Tall Tales

114. Anonymous, In the Chung Mode, to the Tune of “P’u T’ien Lo”

115. Yün-k’an Tzu, [Untitled]

116. Ali Hsiying, “Lazy Cloud’s Nest” 1 and 2

117. Yang Shen, Tune: “Moon Over West River”

118. Liu Shih, Tune: “Dreaming of Southland”; Thinking of Someone

119. Wu Li, Tune: “Happily Flitting Oriole”; From Music of Harmonious Heaven in Reverent Thanks to the Lord of Heaven

120. Nara Singde, Tune: “As If in a Dream”

121. Wang Kuo-wei, Tune: “Sand of Silk-Washing Brook”

Elegies and Rhapsodies

122. Attributed to Ch’ü Yüan, “Heavenly Questions”

123. Chia Yi, “The Owl”

124. Mei Ch’eng, “Seven Stimuli”

125. Ch’eng-kung Sui, “Rhapsody on Whistling”

126. T’ao Ch’ien, “The Return”

127. Su Shih, “Red Cliff Rhapsody”

Folk and Folklike Songs, Ballads, and Narrative Verse

128. Liu Pang, “Song of the Great Wind”

129. Ssu-ma Hsiang-ju, “Cock-Phoenix, Hen-Phoenix”

130. Anonymous, “Ground-Thumping Song”

131. Li Yen-nien, “A Song”

132. Attributed to Hsi-chün, “Lost Horizon”

133. Anonymous, “Song of the Viet Boatman”

134. Anonymous, “Mulberry Up the Lane”

135. Anonymous, From the “Nineteen Old Poems”

“Green, Green Riverside Grass”

136. Anonymous, “They Fought South of the Wall”

137. Anonymous, “Crows on City Walls”; a Children’s Ditty from the Early Years of the Reign of the Later Han Emperor Huan

138. Anonymous or attributed to Ts’ai Yung, “Watering Horses at a Long Wall Hole”

139. Ts’ao Ts’ao, “Song on Enduring the Cold”

140. Fu Hsüan, “Pity Me!”

141. Anonymous, “Midnight Songs”

142. Anonymous, “A Peacock Southeast Flew”

143. Pao Chao, “Magic Cinnabar”

144. Pao Ling-hui, “Added to a Letter Sent to a Traveler”

145. Anonymous, “The Ballad of Mulan”

146. Hulü Chin, “Song of the Tölös”

147. Anonymous, “Song of the Breaking of the Willow”

148. Wang Wei, “Army Ballad”

149. Po Chü-yi, “The Song of Lasting Regret”

150. Po Chü-yi and Yüan Chen, “Iranian Whirling Girls”

151. Anonymous, “Poem of Medicine Puns”

152. Yao Chen, “Ballad on the Investigation of a Disaster”

153. Li Mi-an, “The Half-and-Half Song”

154. Feng Meng-lung, “Mountain Songs”

155. Chiu Tsz-yung, “A Lament for Fortune’s Frailty”

156. Chin Ho, “Ballad of the Maiden of Lan-ling”

PART III. PROSE

Documents

157. Anonymous, “The Great Announcement,” from the Classic of Documents

158. Wang Pao, “The Contract for a Youth”

History

159. Attributed to Tso Ch’iu-ming, “Two Brothers of Cheng and the Mother Who Doted on the Younger,” from The Commentary of Mr. Tso

160. Pan Ku, “The Passing of Kung Sheng,” from History of the Han

Moral Lessons

161. Yang Hsiung, Exemplary Sayings, Chapter 2

162. Pan Chao, Lessons for Women

Parallel Prose

163. Jen Fang, “Memorial of Indictment Against Liu Cheng”

164. Wang Po, Preface to “Ascending the Pavilion of King T’eng in Hung-chou on an Autumn Day for a Parting Feast”

Letters

165. Li Po, “Letter to Han Ching-chou”

166. Tsung Ch’en, “Letter in Reply to Liu Yi-chang”

Prefaces and Postfaces

167. Hsü Shen, Postface to Explanation of Simple and Compound Graphs

168. Wang Hsi-chih, Preface to Collected Poems from the Orchid Pavilion

169. Liu Tsung-yüan, Preface to the “Foolish Brook Poems”

170. Li Ch’ing-chao, Postface to a Catalog on a Collection of Bronze and Stone Inscriptions

Discourses, Essays, and Sketches

171. Hsi K’ang, “Discourse on Nourishing Life”

172. T’ao Ch’ien, “The Peach Blossom Spring”

173. Han Yü, An Explication of “Progress in Learning”

174. Ou-yang Hsiu, “The Three Zithers”

“A Record of the Pavilion of an Intoxicated Old Man”

175. Shen Kua, [“On a UFO”], from Brush Talks from Dream Brook

176. Chang Tai, “Liu Ching-t’ing the Storyteller”

“Professional Matchmakers,” from Dream Memories of West Lake

177. Wei Hsüeh-yi, “Account of a Peach-Stone Boat”

178. Lin Ssu-huan, “The Vocal Mimic”

179. Li Yü, “The Arts of Sleeping, Walking, Sitting, and Standing,” from The Arts of Living

180. Yüan Mei, “Thoughts upon Student Huang’s Borrowing of Books”

Travelogues and Scenic Descriptions

181. Laymen of Mount Lu Associated with Hui-yüan, “A Poem on Wandering at the Stone Gate,” with Introduction

182. Yang Hsüan-chih, “The Establishment of the White Horse Temple,” from The Record of the Monasteries of Loyang

183. Fan Ch’eng-ta, “A Climb Up Mount Omei,” from Diary of a Boat Trip to Wu

184. Chou Mi, “Observing the Tidal Bore,” from Reminiscences of Wu-lin

Miscellanea

185. Fan Sheng-chih, Fan Sheng-chih’s Book, Chapter 1: “Basic Principles of Farming”

186. Anonymous, “Miscellanies, Secret H,” A Fragment

187. Li Shang-yin, Li Shang-yin’ s Miscellany

188. Anonymous, Lay Student Notations from Tun-huang

189. Ch’ü Ching-ch’un, “That Which Is Mandated by Heaven Is Called Nature”

190. Jokes

Biographies, Autobiographies, and Memoirs

191. Ch’en Shou, “The Biography of Hua-t’o,” from History of the Three Kingdoms

192. Yeh Meng-te, “Physicians Cannot Raise the Dead”

193. Lu Yü, “The Autobiography of Instructor Lu”

194. Liu Tsung-yüan, “Biography of the Child Ou Chi”

195. P’i Jih-hsiu, “Biography of a Girl Surnamed Chao”

196. Lu Jung, “The Biography of A-liu”

197. Hou Fang-Yü, “The Biography of Actor Ma”

Fictional and Fictionalized Biographies and Autobiographies

198. Han Yü, “The Biography of Fur Point”

199. Lu Kuei-meng, “Biography of the Vagrant of Rivers and Lakes”

PART IV. FICTION

Rhetorical Persuasions and Allegories

200. Compiled by Liu Hsiang, Intrigues of the Warring States

201. Liu Tsung-yüan, “The Donkey of Ch’ien”

Anecdotal Fiction

202. Liu Yi-ch’ing, A New Account of Tales of the World

Tales of the Strange

203. Attributed to Liu Hsiang, Biographies of Transcendents

204. Kan Pao, Preface to and Tales from Search for the Supernatural

205. P’u Sung-ling, Strange Tales from Make-Do Studio

206. Chi Yün, Sketches from the Cottage for the Contemplation of Subtleties

Classical-Language Short Stories

207. Yüan Chen, “The Story of Ying-ying”

208. Li Kung-tso, “An Account of the Governor of the Southern Branch”

Vernacular Short Stories

209. Anonymous, “The Shrew: Sharp-Tongued Ts’ui-lien”

210. Feng Meng-lung, “The Canary Murders”

Novels

211. Attributed to Wu Ch’eng-en, The Journey to the West, Chapter 7

212. Anonymous, “Wu Sung Beats the Tiger,” from Water Margin, with Commentary by Chin Sheng-t’an

213. Ts’ao Hsüeh-ch’in, “A Burial Mound for Flowers,” from Dream of Red Towers

PART V. ORAL AND PERFORMING ARTS

Prosimetric Narratives

214. Anonymous, “Transformation Text on Mahāmaudgalyāyana Rescuing His Mother from the Underworld with Pictures, One Scroll, with Preface”

215. Tung Chieh-yuan, Master Tung’ s Western Chamber Romance, Chapter 2

Drama

216. Kuan Han-ch’ing, Injustice to Tou Ŏ

217. T’ang Hsien-tsu, The Peony Pavilion, Scene 7

218. Anonymous, “The Mortal Thoughts of a Nun,” from a Popular Drama

Principal Chinese Dynasties and Periods

Romanization Schemes for Modern Standard Mandarin

List of Permissions