This painting depicts a famous ci poem by the Song poet Su Shi, “The Mid-Autumn Festival”— “How rare the moon, so round and clear!/ With cup in hand, I ask of the blue sky,/ ‘I do not know in the celestial sphere/ What name this festive night goes by?’” Photo: FILE

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The shi poetry of the Tang (618–907) and Song (960–1279) dynasties is often highlighted in discussions on ancient Chinese literature. Continuous comparisons and studies of shi poetry in the two dynasties profoundly influenced Chinese literati throughout history and up to the present day. The ci poetry in the Tang and Song dynasties has drawn less attention from modern academia, but it attracted many followers and imitators in later eras that cultivated two major rival schools, the Zong Tang Group (followers of the Tang era ci) and the Zong Song Group (followers of the Song era ci).

 

Beginning of dissociation
Ci poetry was developed during the late Sui Dynasty (581–618) and the early Tang Dynasty. It was not until the end of the transitional period of the Five Dynasties (907–960), a time of division and strife, that ci became a major vehicle for lyrical expression. It was characterized mostly by a gentle, graceful and subtle style popularized by the Hua Jian Ji (Among the Flowers), an anthology that described the opulent furnishings and gardens of solitary women and their hidden desires, composed by Chinese lyricists, including Wen Tingyun (c. 812–866) and Wei Zhuang (c. 836–910). Admired for the delicate sensuality of its verse and its ability to evoke feminine sensibility, the Hua Jian Ji has been praised as the “Paragon of Ci Poetry.”

It was in the Song Dynasty that ci poetry achieved its greatest heights, becoming the major genre of the dynasty. Early Song ci poetry was still influenced by the late Tang and Five Dynasties with its soft and beautiful style. However, this style was met with criticism in the Northern Song Dynasty (960–1127). The great Northern Song scholar Su Shi (1037–1101) despised these “boudoir-style” verses that often lacked content, and he called for new practical content in ci poetry to convey the morality and virtue of scholar-officials. Li Qingzhao (1084–c. 1155), one of the greatest female poets in Chinese history, compared the ci poetry of the Tang and the Five Dynasties to the “music of the states of Zheng and Wei” (the folk music in the states of Zheng and Wei during the Spring and Autumn Period, the style of which was considered cheap and obscene). She rejected the trend of copying the style of Tang era ci and believed that ci poetry should have strong narrative focus and be elegant, dignified and complete. Her views added new elements to the aesthetics of ci poetry.

During the Southern Song Dynasty (1127–1279), under the impact of Neo-Confucianism and the suffering and devastation caused by the Jingkang Incident (which took place in 1127 during the Jin–Song Wars) people scathingly criticized the genre of Tang era ci for being flashy and indulging too much in romance, neglecting the Confucian moral code of being restrained as well as adding practical value to the country.

Late in the Southern Song Dynasty, the Song era ci was dominated by two important scholars, Xin Qiji (1140–1207) and Jiang Kui (c. 1155–1221), who respectively established two innovative styles of ci poetry. Xin absorbed the ideas about ci poetry from Su Shi, imbuing ci with new content—the political, economic and social situations of the times. His ci poetry was characterized by heroic sincerity and profoundness due to his disappointment and sorrow at finding no way to serve his country. Jiang Kui cultivated a poetic style that was distinct from Xin Qiji, conveying a literati-style that cultivated a carefree mood as well as sympathy for his homeland through candid verse (A poet described Jiang’s poetic style as “Clouds that leave or stay without a trace,” underlining the unpredictability of Jiang’s poems).

Both Xin and Jiang established their own schools at the time and influenced other poets of later periods. During the Jin (1115–1234) and Yuan (1271–1368) dynasties, the conquest of China by the Jurchen and the Mongols did not disrupt the continuation of major trends in traditional ci writing. However, poets in northern China mostly appreciated the style of ci represented by Su Shi and Xin Qiji, and they took a negative attitude towards the Tang era ci, which went against Confucian values. Poets in the south of China, most of whom used to be the people of the Song Dynasty, were followers of Jiang Kui, and they had a positive attitude towards the achievements of the Tang era ci. At the time, the Zong Tang Group and the Zong Song Group were still emerging.

 

Development
Due to the dominance of Neo-Confucianism, the Song era ci, which served as an instrument to express political thoughts and morals, gained in popularity during the early Ming Dynasty (1368–1644). The popularity of Song era ci was not weakened until antiquarianism brought about the revival of Tang era ci. The trend was started by the Earlier Seven Masters and the Later Seven Masters, two groups of writers and literary theorists flourishing between 1488 and 1572. The “Masters” wanted to get rid of the overloaded phraseology of prose and poetry at the time and suggested instead to use the style of poetry that flourished during the Tang Dynasty. Their thoughts led to a subsequent rivalry with Song era ci and prompted the emergence of the Zong Tang Group.

Born in the revival of Tang era ci, the Zong Tang Group consisted of a group of poets living in the Songjiang area (today a suburban district of Shanghai) in the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty (1644–1911), named the Yun Jian (Among the Clouds) School. The leader of the Yun Jian School proposed exclusively learning from and imitating the Tang era ci, especially the Hua Jian Ji. Under its influence, a style of Tang era ci characterized by feminine subtlety dominated the ci canon during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. The 17th-century Manchu poet Nara Singde was a fan of the Hua Jian Ji when he was a child.

However, the conscious imitation of Tang models and complete rejection of Song era ci also incurred criticism because genuine creativity was rare. Such opinions, together with the social disorders caused by the change of dynasties and new cultural policies issued by the Qing government, promoted the emergence of the Zong Song Group, who stressed the significance of learning from Song era ci poets, such as Su Shi, Xin Qiji or Jiang Kui. Scholars who championed the works of Su Shi and Xin Qiji believed that ci should advance with the times and commit to innovation, while the followers of Jiang Kui suggested that ci should be polished and refined to achieve elegance and simplicity.

 

Integration
In the later years of the Qianlong Emperor (1711–1799), the Qing Empire began to decline. In the field of ci writing, although antiquarianism dominated literature as it had done before, the literati began to pay attention to increasing social problems and searched for practical solutions. In this situation, a school of ci that met both the needs of antiquarianism whilst simultaneously tackling social problems emerged, known as the Changzhou School. It dominated the field of ci writing in the semi-late Qing Dynasty. The leader of the Changzhou School, Zhang Huiyan, though upholding Wen Tingyun, the master of Tang era ci, as the poet of ci orthodoxy, thought that the value of Wen’s achievement was more than the beauty of language, but also its depth of conviction. In this way, Zhang came up with the idea that ci could deal with various practical themes without neglecting romanticism and beauty. Zhang’s idea was further developed by another ci poet of the Changzhou School, Zhou Ji, who integrated the essence of the Zong Tang Group and the Zong Song Group. Noticing that the learning of Song era ci was much easier than the learning of the Tang era ci, Zhou Ji claimed that the ci composed by Zhou Bangyan (1056–1121), a great ci poet of the Northern Song Dynasty, should be the paragon of ci poetry. Zhou Bangyan’s ci poetry, though serving as a model for Song era ci of later eras, maintained some elements of the Tang era ci. Hence, his ci poetry has been praised as “simple, honest and elegant.” Many literati of later eras, such as Kuang Zhouyi (1859–1926), one of the Great Four Ci Poets of the Qing Dynasty, believed that the Tang era ci and Song era ci were equally important in the history of traditional Chinese literature.

 

Fu Jicheng is from the School of Literature and Journalism at Xiangtan University.

(edited by REN GUANHONG)