How to Read Chinese Poetry A Guided Anthology

100 t He Han Dy na s t y

presenting such a properly dressed woman in order to appeal to an aristocratic

audience. Another possible explanation is that the image of wealth and luxury ex-

presses the hidden wishes of the common people and is an example of the device

of “boastful inventiveness” common in European ballads.36

The grand warden does not appear as an oppressive figure, and that has con-

tributed to the weakening support of the socialist theory of class struggle. The

conversation between Luofu and the governor is amusing and relaxed. Luofu’s

summary of her husband’s achievements is another example of boastful inventive-

ness. At Luofu’s refusal, the poem stops, as do the governor’s advances. Consider-

ing it a culmination of the boastful device, several scholars have suggested that,

at the critical moment, Luofu invents a husband who outranks the governor.37 It

is also possible that the poem, as received, is incomplete. In any case, these differ-

ent interpretations are perhaps not mutually exclusive but mutually illuminating.

The original poem perhaps intended to reflect social ills, but different themes

could have arisen through adaptation and performance. Some readers may still

see its commentary on the social reality despite its adaptations for performance

and entertainment. Due to our insufficient knowledge of its textual revisions,

performative context, and intended audience, all interpretations are tentative and

subject to question.

In this chapter, we have considered two entirely separate sets of poems. The first,

the religious hymns written during the Western Han and performed at ceremonial

occasions, have had little impact on Chinese literature. The second group, how-

ever, dealing with ordinary people’s daily life, became the fountainhead of medi-

eval Chinese poetry. Both types were generally composed by anonymous authors

and were placed under the loose category of yuefu verse by later compilers. The

term yuefu as a generic label did not appear until the sixth century, however, and so

scholars have challenged the validity of this word as a generic label.38 Despite the

lingering controversy around such questions as the origins of the Music Bureau

its official functions, and authenticity, the Han Music Bureau corpus continues to

play a critical role in Chinese literary history.

Jui-lung Su

notes

1. For a detailed discussion of these issues, see Anne M. Birrell, “Mythmaking and Yüeh-fu:
   Popular Songs and Ballads of Early Imperial China,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 109,
   no. 2 (1989): 223–235.


2. Ban Gu, Han shu (History of the Han Dynasty) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1962),
   22.1071–1074.


3. Shen Yue, comp., Song shu (History of the Liu Song Dynasty) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1965),
   19.550; Charles Egan, “Reconsidering the Role of Folk Songs in Pre-T’ang Yüeh-fu Development,”
   T’oung Pao 86, nos. 1–3 (2000): 77.


4. Egan, “Reconsidering the Role of Folk Songs,” 78–99; Zhang Yongxin, Han Yuefu yanjiu (A
   Study of Han Music Bureau Poetry) (Nanjing: Jiangsu guji chubanshe, 1992), 58–63.


5. Ban Gu, Han shu 30.1754–1755.

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