Wang Yü-ch’eng

THE BAMBOO PAVILION-TOWER
OF HUANG-KANG

TRANSLATED BY JAN W. WALLS

INTRODUCTION

REVIEWING the lives of the famous scholar-officials in traditional China, we find that those who valued their integrity most highly were often the ones who enjoyed the least security of office. Their very lives were hinged upon the whim of a despotic sovereign, and many honest and sincere officials found their careers punctuated by periods of exile and disgrace after their honest advice had been either misinterpreted or intentionally misconstrued. Wang Yü-ch’eng was one of these men. His genius won him early favor with his emperor, but his lack of restraint in voicing what he thought to be proper criticism often met with ill favor, and during the last years of his short life, he was forced to pack his baggage nine times—from 988 to 1001: Shang-chou; Chieh-chou; Shan-chou; K’ai-feng; Ch’u-chou; Yang-chou; K’ai-feng; Huang-chou; and Chin-chou.

Wang Yü-ch’eng, sobriquet Yüan-chih, was born in Chü-yeh, Chi-chou, of Shantung Province, north China, in 954. He was of a peasant family, but through his sheer brilliance was able to pass the Imperial Examinations and obtain the highly coveted Advanced Scholar (chin-shih) degree in 983. He died from an unknown cause in 1001 at the age of forty-seven. Chung-kuo Wen-hsüeh-chia Ta-tz’u -tien, Yang Yin-shen, ed. (Shanghai: Chung Hua Shu Chü, 1939), page 231, gives a detailed biography.

Wang Yü-ch’eng wrote this essay in the year 999, during his exile in Huang-chou. I find it particularly enjoyable because, brief and simple though it is, its descriptive beauty is evident in the first reading, and its surprising depth becomes more and more apparent in subsequent reflection. For only toward the end of his essay does Wang reveal that the Bamboo Pavilion-Tower that he has described so effectively symbolizes the Empire itself; that the simple, frugal, and utilitarian principles governing the structure of the pavilion-tower are precisely those which should govern the motherland. Thereupon his love for the little building becomes love for the ideal world; his scorn for the more exotic edifice mirrors his contempt of the corrupt rule which sends honest men into exile. Reversing the shingles is symbolic of a reversal of administrative policies—a plea to uncover and make use of hidden talents (exiled officials)—and his final resigned optimism toward the future of his pavilion-tower takes on new meaning.

In translating this essay I have tried to retain some of the smoothness and balance of the original; I hope that the many parallel sentences, which are euphonic in Chinese, will not seem tedious in English.

THE BAMBOO PAVILION-TOWER OF HUANG-KANG

THE land at Huang-kang produces much bamboo, the greatest stalks of which resemble beams. Bamboo workers split them, cut away their joints, and use them in place of earthen tiles. So it is with every building here; and thus its price is modest and it requires less labor.

At the northwest corner of our city wall the parapet was toppled in ruin, overgrown by thick weeds. There I built a small two-room pavilion-tower that leads to the Moon Wave Pavilion-Tower. In the distance one can imbibe mountain splendor, and on the horizon scoop in river shoals. Deep and still, distant and remote, it defies all description. In summer it is right for enjoying summer showers: there is the roaring sound of cascades; in winter for fine snowfall: there is the tinkling sound of jade. It is right for strumming the zyther: the zyther’s tune is harmonious, pleasant; and for chanting poetry: the poem’s ring is pure, sublime. It is right for playing go: the stones sound click, click; and for playing pitch: the darts sound plunk, plunk. All these effects are enhanced in a pavilion-tower of bamboo.

In times of leisure, when official business subsides, I slip into my swan’s-down robe and put on my hermit’s cap. Holding in hand the Book of Changes, I burn incense, sit in silence, and banish worldly care. Beyond the river and mountains I see only sails in the wind, birds on the sand, misty clouds, bamboo trees, and nothing more. Later, when I awaken from this intoxication, and the steam has vanished from the tea, I bid farewell to the setting sun, and greet the pallid moon: splendid conditions for an exile.

The Cloud Level and Falling Star pavilion-towers were lofty, yes; the Well Crib and Tower of Beauty were magnificent, yes; but they merely housed women of pleasure, concealed song and dance. They are not the concern of a troubled poet; I would not have them.

I have heard the bamboo workers say, “Bamboo can serve as tile for only ten years. If you then reverse the shingles, they will last for twenty years.” Alas! In the year 995 I was sent away from the Han Lin Academy to the area of Ch’u; in 996 I was transferred to Kuang-ling; in 997 I entered the Western Office. In 998, on the last day of the year, orders came to go to Ch’i-an. In 999, during the intercalary third month, I arrived here at my district. For four years I have been scurrying about without pause, never knowing where the following year would find me; why should I fear that the Bamboo Pavilion-Tower might waste away? Someone after me, with motives similar to my own, I trust, will adopt and repair it so that this pavilion-tower shall not waste away. (Written on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, 999.)

NOTES

line 1 HUANG-KANG: A city northwest of today’s Huang-kang County, Hupei Province.

line 16 PITCH: A game of pitching darts into a pot.

line 27 CLOUD LEVEL: Said to have been built by Han P’u of the Five Dynasties period (A.D. 907-960). Location unknown.

FALLING STAR: Built by Sun Ch’uan, self-proclaimed emperor of the Wu Kingdom (3rd century A.D.). Located forty li northwest of Nanking,

line 28 WELL CRIB: Erected by the Han Emperor Wu (141-86 B.C.). It was forty chang high, resembling a well crib in shape.

TOWER OF BEAUTY: Erected by Ts’ao Ts’ao (ca. 155-220), King of Wei.

line 34 IN THE YEAR 995: The reign-title of Chih-Tao, the second celestial stem yi, the eighth horary branch wei, which was the year 995.

line 35 HAN LIN ACADEMY: Han Lin literally means “forest of quills.” The academy was an exclusive brotherhood of scholar-officials in the capital beginning in the T’ang Dynasty (618-906). Their duties embraced such important functions as the drafting and writing of imperial edicts.

line 36 WESTERN OFFICE: The Western Office of the Imperial Palace housed the Imperial Secretariat. It was entrusted with the drafting of imperial proclamations.

line 38 INTERCALARY THIRD MONTH: An extra month was inserted seven times in nineteen years to make up the deficiency between the solar and lunar years,

line 44 999: The second year of the Hsien-P’ing reign.