“Waiting for the Unicorn”
Shu Wei (Li-jen; T’IEH-YÜN) was born in Soochow, Kiangsu province, although his father’s ancestral home was in Ta-hsing, in Chihli province (around modern Peking). He first took the provincial examinations in 1782; however, he did not receive the chü-jen degree until 1788, and even after nine attempts he never succeeded at the chin-shih exams. He filled various lower-level bureaucratic and secretarial positions for the rest of his career.
Shu possessed great talent in a number of artistic endeavors. In addition to being a poet in the traditional shih mode, he wrote a series of tsa-chü (lyric dramas), six of which are extant. His interest in music extended to composition, and for some of his dramas he wrote both libretto and score, demonstrating a rare mastery of both forms. He himself played several musical instruments, and his poetry has been praised for its lyric quality. He also was a skilled painter and calligrapher.
Being a man of many parts, Shu had no great difficulty in finding employer-patrons. He was attached to the staff of Wang Chao-wu (chin-shih 1781) during a campaign (1797–1799) against the aboriginal Miao tribes in Kweichow. Later while in Peking he was introduced to Chao-lien (1780–1833), a Manchu imperial prince at whose mansion he staged some of his plays in collaboration with Pi Hua-chen. This relationship lasted three years, from 1809 to 1812. Shu died in the city of his birth in 1816 while in mourning for his mother.
Aside from the dramas mentioned above, Shu’s works include over a thousand poems collected in the P’ing-shui-chai shih-chi. Among these are a set of fifty-two poems with long descriptive annotations written in 1797 about the customs of the various Miao tribal peoples in Kweichow.
Shu wrote well in both the ancient-and recent-style verse forms. He used the ancient-style for serious reflections on his life, as in “Crossing P’o-yang Lake,” and for poems in a humorous vein, as in “I Hate Mosquitoes.” He seems to have used the ancient-style poetry also for poems on historical themes or events.
Shu excelled in the more lyrical recent-style poetry. A Japanese commentator has said that Shu’s ancient-style poems are extravagant, but his recent-style verse is exquisite. Shu is particularly adept at evoking a mood within a landscape. A modern editor of Shu’s works, Chiang Chien-jen, praises Shu by saying that he combines the surpassing talent of Li Po with the elegance of Tu Fu. Shu Wei is somewhat unconventional in relating the stories of the Lun-yü in verse form. In other poems, he manifests a skeptical turn of mind, and elsewhere he adopts a realistic, and occasionally a satirical manner in responding to contemporary events. Although profoundly aware of the greatness of the literary tradition which he had inherited, he refused to be bound by the past and sometimes reveals a flair for innovation.
(Barry L. Gartell)
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1. Man-kuei Li, ECCP, 2:661–662.
Composed on a Moonlit Night Outing on Ancient West Lake
[Lake T’ai],1 Two Poems
I
The wind comes up, clouds depart, the moon just overhead;
The shore of Hsiao-hsia Bay is a link to white autumn.2
The same misty waves, and a night just the same—
Finally I am given a little skiff.
II
I neither trim the sail nor tend the mast;
Two oars delicately open frost blossoms on the water.
At midnight a cross wind blows without ceasing,
And green hills fly across Lake T’ai.
(Nos. 1 and 2 from a series of 5; PSCSC 11, 21a-b)
(Tr. Barey L. Gartell)
Impressions of Things Encountered
My, my! My, oh my!
A hundred generations are but passing guests.
A hero prizes his word over yellow gold.
A moral man values himself more than a disc of white jade.
But should the white jade disc be flawed,
It’s no better than tile or stone.
And though gold can be worn around one’s finger,
It’s only good when cut and sold inch by inch.
What is treasured is revealed in frost and snow:
How luxuriantly green stand the pine and Cyprus trees.
If a white egret is not truly noble-minded,
Its feathers are pure and white for naught.
(No. 1 from a series of 4; PSCSC 1, 14b-15a)
(Tr. Barry L. Gartell)
Mosquitoes come in stately rank,
Three by three or two by two.
Their needs I think are not too much,
But what care I for a little itch?
I don’t begrudge their eating their fill, | 5 |
I’m lucky they don’t press close to my ear and buzz.
But, alas, they swarm and make their thunder!
Though already autumn, they still gang up.
Biting flies I chase away by day;
And frogs have made the nights hard to enjoy. | 10 |
Yet you mosquitoes truly work in silence,
And gnaw at my flesh as if sacrifices were your due.
I’ll repay your desire for warmth and food,
But please leave me to my own calm thoughts.
Slap! Slak! Why can’t I swat you! | 15 |
I too love my palms.
(PSCSC 7, 9a-10a)
(Tr. Barry L. Gartell)
I
The price of rice this year is so dear,
A piece of silk vanishes like a goose in flight.
Steamed millet—a new dream rekindled;3
To abstain from rice, ancient recipes are few.
To beg for rice: there’s Tsang Wen-chung;4
To corner the market: there’s Lü Pu-wei.5
Myself but a single grain in the Royal Granary,
Dare I complain of hunger before the throne?
II
And so, wine and meat markets are proscribed,
But people still string nets to catch sparrows.
Is the meat of the roe deer really edible?6
After all, most everyone is sallow of cheek.
Perhaps only pigmies are fully fed;
And no one can rival the Ravenous Beast for gluttony.7
Do not despise the flavor of bamboo shoots and vegetables,
For with an empty belly, one can still sing long songs.
(Nos. 1 and 4 from a series of 7; PSCSC 16, 13a-b)
(Tr. Irving Lo)
NOTES
1. Hsi Ku-hu, or Ancient West Lake, refers to T’ai-hu, which is associated with the life of Fan Li. See Wu Chia-chi, note 2.
2. Hsiao-hsia (Escape-from-summer) Cove, located in West Lake, is known as a place of refuge from summer heat.
3. Alluding to an ancient legend and the play Huang-liang meng (Yellow Millet Dream).
4. Also called Tsang-sun Ch’en (d. 617 B.C.), a statesman of the Warring States period, who served under four dukes of Lu and was known for his mercantile genius.
5. According to history, Ch’in Shih Huang-ti was the illegitimate son of Lü Pu-wei, a merchant who made his fortune in the marketplace.
6. The Chinese regarded venison as inedible.
7. T’ao-t’ieh: headless monsters who were always ravenous according to ancient legend, and as stylized figures, the common motif of Shang and Chou bronzes.
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