EACS-2016. Book of Abstracts

Premodern Literature 21st Biennial Conference of the European Association for Chinese Studies 38 This paper offers a comparative approach by first isolating the chuanqi-theme of tragic romance that leads to mostly frustrating, sometimes destructive emotional entanglement, indirectly satirizing conven- tional social values of the elite built on gender-harmony. This will be followed by an analysis of narrative and performative aspects in Liu Yong's ( 柳永 , 987–1053) manci such as the poetic transformation of the conventional motive of rootless travelling from a narrative of loyality and moral integrity into a narrative of romantic adherence to a loved one lost once and forever. Focusing on the performative aspect it will be shown that the romantic emotion discharged of any expectation leads to a new approach to gender psychol- ogy allowing the creation of fresh poetic voices and a new portrayal of humanity. Kravtsova Marina (Saint Petersburg State University) On Ideas of Public Poetic Activity in Ancient and Imperial China Key words: ancient poetry, rituals, songs, views on art of music, public poetic activity, theories of poetry The ideas of poetry-shi 詩 as creative activity in favor of the State originated in the framework of the Ru’s shixue ( 詩學 “learning of poetry”) theory, which seems more than a well-studied in world sinology. Nevertheless, some new details can be traced if bear version of Wen Yiduo ( 聞一多 1899–1946) who argued originally separate existence of song (ge 歌 ) and shi traditions. The first of them together with music-yue 樂 and dancing-wu 舞 being an integral part of the so-called ritual and music cultural phe- nomenon (liyue-wenhua 禮樂文化 ) was endowed with sacred semantics and functions. The shi tradition aroused from ritual recitations and without musical accompaniment. It probably gave birth to written poetry (bronze epigraphy) and further on transformed according to some narrations (Zuozhuan 左轉 , Guoyu 國語 , etc.) into court ceremonial component designed to “articulate one’s mind intention” (shi yan zhi 詩言志 ), unlike songs aimed at the expression of human emotions (qing 情 ). The higher state status engaged shi, the greater was the need to implement it with ge’s meanings and functions, what required to combine both traditions. Exactly this was done by complying the Shi (Classics of Poetry) collection, arranged from written poetic texts, but which can then be used for personal singing and collective musi- cal performances. Thus visions of shi absorbed (Daxu 大序 , the Great Preface) all views on art of music, including the idea of “dirty” (ran 染 ) music, capable to undermine the spiritual foundations of the State. The theoretical grounds appeared both for cultivating the official (courtly) poetry and its critics in the case of “immoral” regimes. Kwong Yim-tze (Lingnan University) Beginnings of a Poetic Vein in Ci: Zhang Zhihe’s ‘Fisherman Lyrics’ Key words: Zhang Zhihe, ci poetry, fisherman, Nature, spiritual transcendence In classical Chinese poetry, the farmer, fisherman and woodcutter stand as emblems of a life in peace and harmony with Nature. Yet even more than the other two, the fisherman has been a symbol of spiritual transcendence since pre-Qin times, whether in the unworldly terms of Zhuangzi or the more engaged terms of Chu ci. This can be seen in the sizable quantity of shi poems and a small but growing number of song lyrics (ci) on the “fisherman theme”, even though ci is largely suffused with “feminine” sentiments. This paper proposes to examine Zhang Zhihe’s (c. 741–775) five song lyrics to the ci tune “Yufu/ Yuge zi” (“Fisherman” or “Fisherman’s Song”) on at least the following grounds. First, they have intrinsic artistic merit, especially one included in virtually all ci anthologies. Second, they offer an early case of cross-fertililisation between shi and ci, later to be celebrated when Su Shi’s ci breaks the barrier between the two genres. Third, they mark a cross-fertilisation of folk and literati ci writing; folk pieces on identi- cal and related subjects will also be examined. Fourth, they can be said to have established a distinctive thematic and stylistic vein—more visible in shi—within a poetic genre permeated by feelings of romance, nostalgia, delicacy and melancholy, at least where literati ci is concerned. In retrospect, this group of song lyrics opened up a broader vein of ci poems, later developed by poets like Ouyang Xiu and Su Shi, centring around the beauty of Nature and the spiritual independence of non-official life.