“Waiting for the Unicorn”
(5 JUNE 1650–14 OCTOBER 1727)1
Cha Shen-hsing (Hui-yu; CH’U-PAI, T’A SHAN, etc.) was a native of Hai-ning, Chekiang province. Although he belonged to a wealthy and influential clan, his immediate family was apparently less financially secure. Thus, when his father died in 1678, Cha was compelled to seek gainful employment rather than continuing his preparations for the civil service examinations. He served on the staff of a provincial governor for three years, after which he returned to his native place to study with the famous scholar Huang Tsung-hsi (q.v.). Still later he accepted a position as the tutor of K’uei-hsü (1674?–1717), the second son of the grand secretary Mingju (1635–1708) and younger brother of the poet Singde (q.v.). Thereafter, he was employed by Hsü Ch’ien-hsüeh (1631–1694), an influential scholar and powerful civil official, to assist in the compilation of the Ta-Ch’ing yi-t’ung chih (Comprehensive Geography of the Empire). This work took him to the city of Soochow and was in part responsible for his being employed in other similar scholarly endeavors in later years, including the compilation of the phrase dictionary P’ei-wen yün-fu, a companion anthology of poetry, and several local gazeteers.
In 1693, Cha was successful in the examination for the chü-jen degree, and ten years later he was awarded the chin-shih degree. This led to appointments in the Imperial Study and the Hanlin Academy. He retired from public service in 1713, returned to his native place, and lived there quietly until he and other male members of the family were imprisoned. Ostensibly his brother had impugned the imperial name, but it is more likely that his family’s long association with K’uei-hsü, who had become embroiled in the Yung-cheng succession affair, was the real cause. In any event, one brother died in prison, another was sent into exile, and Cha himself died shortly after he was released and allowed to return home.2
Very much a man of his times, Cha led a rich and full official life, one not of course without its dangers and uncertainties, and he played an active and important role in the various group research and compilation projects which were sponsored by government and wealthy individuals alike. The results of his own scholarly interests include a commentary on the Yi-ching and an annotation of the works of the great Sung dynasty poet Su Shih.
Except for one play and a large collection of casual essays, poetry was Cha’s main creative outlet. Like the two poets Su Shih and Lu Yu (1125–1210) of Sung times, whose accomplishments in poetry influenced him and with whom he has sometimes been compared, poetry was for Cha Shen-hsing a congenial and flexible medium for the recording of his daily thoughts, emotions, experiences, and personal observations. That he consciously regarded poetry in this way is revealed in the scope of his poetic corpus, approximately six thousand poems, the vast thematic range of his verse, and the personal attention he gave to the organization of his collected poems. Shortly before his death, he put his poems in chronological order, divided the whole into a number of sections and subsections, assigned each of these divisions separate titles, and wrote brief introductions to each, including useful biographical detail. Apparently, he wanted later generations to understand his poetry correctly and to judge him well.
Cha Shen-hsing has been credited with the creation of a distinct poetic style for his times, one of clarity and precision of manner. His nephew once said he learned from his uncle that “the profundity of poetry lies in its meaning, not in its language; the power of poetry lies in its vital force, not in its upright manner; the sensibility of poetry lies in its emptiness (intangibles), not in its craft; the simplicity of poetry lies in what it casts off, not in what is easy. . . .” These principles of profundity, power, sensibility, and simplicity were the qualities Cha sought to capture in his poetry. Chao Yi (q.v.) was later to say that the dominant feature of his poetry was the clarity of language and manner which precluded heavy ornamentation and bodied forth his ingenuity and excellence as a poet.
(William Schultz)
____________________
1. Chao-ying Fang, ECCP, 1:21- 22.
2. Ibid., p. 22.
A Song of Crows Gleaning the Grain
In front of the ox, he raises his head to hoe;
Behind the crows, he bends down to gather the grain.
Why should the ox till for the crows?
Crows, because of the ox, get their fill.
The farmer tends the ox, but always he suffers hunger;
Better to be a crow—to flock together, fill one’s belly, and fly off, east or west!
(CYTSC, 35:6b)
(Tr. William Schultz)
From one shower comes hopes for a bumper harvest;
Perhaps it is human nature thus to take comfort in the present.
But, compared to the old farmer, mine is an even shorter view:
Merely to covet this one night, one night of cool slumber.
(CYTSC, 13:3a)
(Tr. William Schultz)
I
A cricket chirrups near my bed;
A cicada is silent, voiceless.
These two insects exchange their roles,
And, in the process, summer becomes winter.
Great, indeed, is the Maker’s principle,
Made manifest through such small things.
The aging of man proceeds from this:
Hurrying and scurrying; so much scheming!
The Celestial Order is obscured by the myriad activities,
With tranquility I will view my life!
II
Chrysanthemum pistils daily yellow;
Maple leaves daily redden.
The natures of things determine young and old,
Their transformations following the frost and wind.
The frost and wind certainly show no partiality,
Yet blooming, fading, how different these two things!
Most everyone admiring its coloration:
A blind ancient follows a sightless youth.
(Nos. 1 and 3 from a series of 6, CYTSC, 23:7b-8a)
(Tr. William Schultz)
Uncaring, the God of Fire causes the farmers grief:
Thirty days and more of cloudless skies, not a drop of rain.
Well sweeps lift the water into trenches for distant fields;
The sun rages, winds blow, the fields turn hard as salt.
Several families together continue to plant their rice, | 5 |
But the young shoots, green and tender, quickly turn a yellow hue.
Up in every field, by every dike, they irrigate,
But soon, faint clouds of dust rise from river beds.
“Sir, haven’t you heard;
With a tidal roar, the cistern broke, a monstrous calamity, | 10 |
And the water drained away, the fields went dry, doubling our troubles.
For the present, do not worry about the distant Milky Way;
Instead, worry that the ‘mulberry fields may become a sea’ ”1
(CYTSHC, 1:5b)
(Tr. William Schultz)
The Customs Station at Weed Lake2
Yesterday, we left Dragon River,3
Arrived this morning at Weed Lake.
A following wind filling the sails,
We passed the customs station in a flash.
An officer, duty bound to impose the levy, | 5 |
Blocked our way, loudly shouted at us.
The boatmen, not daring to proceed,
Shifted the rudder, hauled on the windlass.
I smiled and spoke to the customs officer:
“Of rare goods, I have none at all! | 10 |
For linking verses, only one short brush,
And, as ballast, one hundred scrolls.
In the prow, there are two chests;
In the stern, a jug of wine.
Beyond this, what more can there be | 15 |
But my companion, this long-bearded servant?”
Distrusting me, the officer advanced
To overturn chests, topple wicker baskets,
Ignoring not a single article.
Regarding one another, he fixed me with his gaze: | 20 |
“To buy us drinks, the law requires payment.”
He turned away as if I was a tax dodger.
If one has goods, officials press for the levy;
If one has none, officers are perversely harsh.
Goods or no, neither can be avoided, | 25 |
So how can one console one’s self on a long journey?
(CYTSC, 1:3b)
(Tr. William Schultz)
NOTES
1. I.e., a common proverb indicating the vicissitudes of life.
2. Wu-hu (Weed Lake), the name of a lake and a district in Anhwei province, the latter being a prosperous communications and trading center.
3. Located in Kiangsi province.
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