352 t He y uan, m i ng, anD q i ng Dy na s t i e s
- A well-informed and comprehensive discussion of the topic is in James I. Crump, “Tales
by Woodsman for the Fisher’s Ear,” in Songs from Xanadu: Studies in Mongol-Dynasty Song-Poetry
(San-ch’ü) (Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, 1983), 81–105. - Sui, Quan Yuan sanqu, 1:69.
- It might not be irrelevant to note here that Hu Zhiyu was one of only a few of those Han
Chinese who was able to serve in an office of the Yuan government and rose to a high position. - Qiao Ji, “Of Myself,” trans. Sherwin S. S. Fu, in Sunflower Splendor: Three Thousand Years
of Chinese Poetry, ed. Wu-chi Liu and Irving Yucheng Lo (Bloomington: Indiana University Press,
1975), 437–438. - The following lines by Liu Yong from the Song dynasty, whose works are discussed in chap-
ter 13, might come close:
Since I fail to soar high,
Why not just indulge in pleasure?
There’s no need to talk about loss and gain—
A talented songwriter
Is no doubt a high minister in plain robe. (QSC 1:57) - For a detailed discussion of this issue, see Frederick W. Mote, “China Under Mongol Rule,”
in Imperial China, 900–1800 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1999), 474–513, espe-
cially 474–477, 504–507. - Sui, Quan Yuan sanqu, 1:156.
- The best example of these verses is in “Jin lü yi” (The Garment Embroidered with Gold
Thread), by an anonymous Tang author:
Treasure not the garment embroidered with gold thread,
But seize the young spring day.
Just pick the flower when you see one—
You’ll have no time to regret when there’s none. (QTS 11:8862) - There is no translation that can better capture the meaning of the verb at the beginning of
line 5 than this rendition by Crump, in Songs from Xanadu, 14. - Xie Wuyi (1068–1112), “On Butterfly,” in Quan Song shi (Complete Shi Poetry of the Song)
(Beijing: Beijing daxue chubanshe, 1991–1998), 22:14858. - Guan Hanqing, “Not Giving In to Old Age,” in An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings
to 1911, trans. and ed. Stephen Owen (New York: Norton, 1996), 729. - Guan Hanqing, “Not Giving In to Old Age,” 730.
- The term “antihero” is used by Owen in his comment on the song suite in Anthology of Chi-
nese Literature, 728.
suggest eD reaDingse ng l i sH
Crump, James I. Song-Poems from Xanadu. Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, University of
Michigan, 1993.
———. Songs from Xanadu: Studies in Mongol-Dynasty Song-Poetry (San-ch’ü). Ann Arbor: Center
for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, 1983.
Johnson, Dale R. Yüan Music Dramas: Studies in Prosody and Structure and a Complete Catalogue
of Northern Arias in the Dramatic Style. Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, University of
Michigan, 1980.
Liu, Wu-chi, and Irving Yucheng Lo, eds. Sunflower Splendor: Three Thousand Years of Chinese
Poetry. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975.