WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST.

LOUIS
Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages and Literatures
Committee on Comparative Literature

Dissertation Examination Committee:

Beata Grant, Chair
Lingchei Letty Chen
Robert E. Hegel
Pauline C. Lee
Steven B. Miles
Linda Nicholson

BEYOND THE BOUDOIR:

WOMEN'S POETRY ON TRAVEL IN LATE IMPERIAL CHINA
by
Yanning Wang

A dissertation presented to the

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
of Washington University in
partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree
of Doctor of Philosophy

May 2009
Saint Louis, Missouri

UMI Number: 3365185

INFORMATION TO USERS

The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy
submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations
and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper
alignment can adversely affect reproduction.
In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript
and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized
copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion.

UMI

UMI Microform 3365185

Copyright 2009 by ProQuest LLC
All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against
unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code.

ProQuest LLC
789 East Eisenhower Parkway
P.O. Box 1346
Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346

copyright by
Yanning Wang
2009

ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION

Beyond the Boudoir:
Women's Poetry on Travel in Late Imperial China
by
Yanning Wang
Doctor of Philosophy in Chinese and Comparative Literature
Washington University in St. Louis, 2009
Professor Beata Grant, Chairperson

The topic of this dissertation is poetry on travel by women writers of late imperial
China, especially from the mid-sixteenth century to the nineteenth century. During this
period, not only was there an extraordinary florescence of women's writing, but their
mobility was also greatly expanded compared to previous dynasties. As a consequence,
travel, whether in the form of an actual journey or an imagined one, became a central
topic in many women's poems. Despite the conventional assumption that pre-modern
Chinese women were passive and confined, the travel poems discussed in this study point
to a wide variety of travel experiences or, at the very least, a growing desire for physical
mobility on the part of educated women of Ming-Qing China.
The subject of travel provided a larger literary space for women poets, especially
elite women, to challenge the notion that their proper place was the boudoir and to
question the seemingly fixed boundary between the inner and outer spheres. I study the
topic of women's poetry and travel in its broader literary, social and historical contexts,
and approach the topic from multiple perspectives, including the versatility of women's

ii

journeys, which were closely related to their personal circumstances and the changing
social reality; women's re-inscription of "recumbent travel," a popular notion in male
literati culture that symbolized artistic fashion and taste; the gendered reinvention of a
traditional poetic genre roaming as a transcendent, and a case study on the excursions of
a single Manchu woman poet Gu Taiqing (1799-1877), who was influenced by both Han
and non-Han cultures.
In contrast to male literati's travel which was widely encouraged as a necessity of
self-cultivation, women's travels were largely curtailed by gender norms. In other words,
when travel was not a free choice, women had to negotiate their spaces beyond the
boudoir strategically, and poems provided just such a space for enhancing and enriching
their self-expression and gender consciousness as a poet and a woman. The proactive
and innovative interactions with literary minds in their daily life enabled women poets to
reach a wider world beyond the boudoir.

in

Acknowledgments
I am deeply indebted to my primary advisor Professor Beata Grant who has
nourished my interest in women's writing since the beginning of my Ph.D. studies at
Washington University in St. Louis. My dissertation project grew out of a paper written
for her seminar, and eventually took shape after numerous discussions with her. Her
scholarship and sensitivity to language will benefit me forever. I must also thank
Professor Grant for inviting me to participate in some of her own scholarly projects,
which has given me invaluable research experience.
I thank all the committee members who have devoted both their time and their
interest to helping me first with my graduate studies and then finally, with my
dissertation project. Professor Robert E. Hegel read my dissertation carefully, providing
insightful comments and meticulous editing. His model as a teacher-scholar has been
truly inspiring to me. Working as a teaching assistant for his literature class has
enhanced my understanding of how good scholarship and effective teaching can benefit
each other. Professor Steven B. Miles' questions and suggestions provoked me to
explore some historical details important to my dissertation. Professor Lingchei Letty
Chen not only commented on my dissertation writing, but also provided timely and
practical guidance about how to prepare for a future career as a teacher and scholar.
Professor Pauline C. Lee brought my attention to a number of useful sources for my
dissertation and generously shared her academic experience. Professor Linda Nicholson
taught me so much about Western critical thought on women, and the importance of
writing clearly.

iv

I must also thank Professor Paul F. Rouzer of the University of Minnesota, Twin
Cities, for commenting on part of Chapter Four, and Professor Paul W. Kroll of the
University of Colorado, Boulder for his scholarly advice during the early years of my
graduate studies.
My thanks also go to Mr. Tony H. Chang and Ms. Wai-man Suen and many other
librarians for their help to my research; to the faculty and staff members of the
Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages and Literatures, and of the Committee
on Comparative Literature for their advice and assistance; to all my friends for their
inspiration and support, both academic and personal; to Washington University and the
Mellon Foundation for the financial aid that made it possible for me to dedicate myself to
my studies.
Last but not least, I am very grateful to my family: my parents have strongly
supported me throughout my life; my sister and her family, and my husband and his
family have both offered me endless practical help and moral encouragement. My
husband Robert has been growing with me and filling my life with laughter and love.

Note on Romanization
All the names and the terms in quoted material have been converted to Hanyu
pinyin for clarity and consistency.

VI

Note on Translation
All translations are mine unless noted otherwise.

Contents

Abstract
Acknowledgments
Note on Romanization
Note on Translation

ii
iv
vi
vii

Introduction

Chapter One: Poetry on Travel in the Male Literati Tradition

12

Chapter Two: Women's Poetry on Travel: Major Types and

Major Issues

60

Chapter Three: Recumbent Travel: Women's Re-inscription

of a Male Literati Tradition

122

Chapter Four: Women's Poetry on Roaming as a Female

Transcendent

162

Chapter Five: Gu Taiqing's Poetry on Excursions

207

Conclusion

267

Bibliography

275

VIII

Introduction
The topic of this study is Chinese women's poetry on travel from the late imperial
period (1368-1911), especially from the mid-sixteenth century to the nineteenth century.
Late imperial China witnessed tremendous economic, social and cultural transformations,
all of which led to an increase in physical mobility and intellectual exchange. This period
also saw an unprecedented explosion of women's writings with more than three thousand
authors and more than two thousand extant anthologies or individual collections. ! I
explore how women poets of this period, commonly perceived as "passive and confined,"
wrote about travel either as an actual journey or just imagined, or "recumbent" (woyou EJA.
M), travel, and in so doing, succeeded in poetically re-inscribing in interesting and
sometimes innovative ways what had traditionally been an almost exclusively maledominated practice. Many of the poems included in this study are translated into English
and discussed for the first time. Therefore, the first purpose of this study is to introduce a
significant amount of new material that sheds light on both women's increasing mobility
in society as well as the literature produced by women themselves. The second purpose
of this dissertation is to explore the theme of travel in pre-modern Chinese poems by
women, in order to position them in broader literary and social contexts. To fulfill this
goal, I not only provide a detailed study of the poems on travel, but also place these
poems both in the context of the male literati tradition as well as the contribution of
women writers from earlier periods, hoping to shed light on not only late imperial
Chinese women's poems, but also the cultural traditions of travel in China.

Hu Wenkai i$] j t $ t , Lidaifunu zhuzuo kao MiXMizMW^s

(Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1985).

Most Western studies on travel literature and women focus on narratives that
record the authors' actual experience of going to a place, especially abroad. Much of this
scholarship addresses the issue of viewing the colonial Other during the journey. In the
field of China studies, Maureen Robertson points out that late imperial Chinese women
invented many new ways of expression that expanded the traditional repertoire of
women's writings, and that their increasing mobility made travel one of their most
popular literary subjects.

Thus the topic of travel and women is a significant

perspective for studying the new development of women's literature and culture in late
imperial China.
Several scholars have already touched upon the importance of women's travel in
literature. Dorothy Ko briefly discusses women who traveled outside their homes during
the seventeenth century.4 For example, the courtesan Wang Wei 3LW (ca. 1600-ca. 1647)
was widely traveled, and this greatly expanded her poetic vision. Elite women such as
Huang Yuanjie MtSiliY (mid-17th-c.) traveled and sold paintings and poems to make a
living. Elsewhere, Zhong Huiling H i t J argues that the sigui shi SJUfft (Poems on
hoping to return to home) represented the painful experience some women faced when
leaving their natal families to travel to a new husband's home. Unable to return regularly

Sara Mills, Discourses of Difference: An Analysis of Women's Travel Writing and Colonialism (London:
New York: Routledge, 1991); Mary Louise Pratt, Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation
(London and New York: Routledge, 1992).
3

Robertson, "Voicing the Feminine: Constructions of the Gendered Subject in Lyric Poetry by Women of
Medieval and Late Imperial China," Late Imperial China 13, no. 1 (1992): 63-110. See pp.87-88.
4

Ko, Teachers of the Inner Chambers: Women and Culture in Seventeenth-Century China (Stanford:
Stanford University Press, 1994), 285-90.

and take care of their own parents, women strongly felt their gender limitations. Susan
Mann provides a detailed study of Zhang Wanying's tJditftil (b. 1800) account of her
journey, and shows how although travel was difficult, it could also serve as a way to
exemplify the womanly virtue of fulfilling family responsibilities.6 During the late Qing,
China became more involved with the rest of the world, and travel for women became
more and more common. Their journeys not only crossed the threshold of the home, but
of nations as well. The example of Lii Bicheng S U M (1883-1943), who traveled
widely around the world and wrote poems in the classical style to record her trips, is a
case in point. 7 In fact, Hu Ying argues that "late Qing women travelers are distinguished
not so much by their mobility as by their increasing visibility on the national and
international scene."8 Such was the case with Qian Shan Shili H^P-drl! (1856-1943), a
diplomat's wife who traveled abroad with her husband. She expanded her concept of
home to include places outside of China and wrote travelogues that targeted women,
encouraging them to travel.9 Grace S. Fong's most recent book, Herself an Author:
Gender, Agency, and Writing in Late Imperial China, includes a chapter on women and
5

Zhong, "Niizi youxing, yuan fiimu xiongdi: Qingdai niizuojia siguishi de tantao" i c T W f f > M 5 i # ^ ,
l&: Vmi'itizWM^lSfiWftfaWM,
in Zhongguo niixingshuxie: Guojixueshuyantaohui lunwenji ^ H i d j i ;
WM: Sf^W4JW(M1kW$~3CM (Taiwan: Xuesheng shuju, 1999), 127-69.

Mann, "The Virtue of Travel for Women in the Late Empire," in Gender in Motion: Divisions of Labor
and Cultural Change in Late Imperial and Modern China, ed. Bryna Goodman and Wendy Larson
(Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2005), 55-74.
7

See Grace S. Fong, "Alternative Modernities, Or a Classical Woman of Modern China: The Challenging
Trajectory of Lii Bicheng's (1883-1943) Life and Song Lyrics," Nan Nil: Men, Women and Gender in
Early and Imperial China 6, no.l (2004): 12-59.
8

Hu, "Reconfiguring Nei/Wai: Writing the Woman Traveler in the Late Qing," Late Imperial China 18, no.
1 (1997): 74.

Ibid., 72-99. Also see Ellen Widmer's study on Shan Shili's travel journal, "Foreign Travel through a
Woman's Eyes: Shan Shili's Guimao liixingji in Local and Global Perspective," Journal of Asian Studies
65, no. 4 (2006): 763-91.

travel entitled "Authoring Journeys: Women on the Road." In this chapter, she uses the
notion of agency to explore how women constructed travel experiences in their poems
and travel journals. 10
The abovementioned studies represent the existing scholarly interest in studying
the subject of travel in women's works in order to examine their lives beyond the inner
quarters. However, the variety of women's travel and the importance of travel as a topic
of poetry demand a full-length study. My study will, I hope, help fill this scholarly gap.
Before starting my discussion of women's poetry on travel, it is a challenging yet
necessary step to define what I mean by the deceptively simple term "travel." The first
issue in establishing the definition is the hybrid nature of the act of traveling and travel
writing. The type of travel can vary, ranging from a long journey of many weeks or
months to a day excursion, from an actual physical journey to an imaginary one. The
question arises: does a single genre called "travel writing" exist? In the West, travel
writing, as a genre, is loosely defined. It is hard to give a uniform definition to this genre
if it exists, because just as the experience itself, the genre taps a "fluid" style taken from
various other styles and genres. l This fluidity makes it difficult to construct a single
perfect definition, yet on the other hand, such an "open-ended and versatile form"12 also
demonstrates the multiple possibilities that travel writing is capable of. Contrary to the
fact that many scholars take travel writing as a genre, Jan Borm argues against this: "it
[travel writing] is not a genre, but a collective term for a variety of texts both

Fong, Herself an Author: Gender, Agency, and Writing in Late Imperial China (Honolulu: University of
Hawai'i Press, 2008), 85-120.
Tim Youngs and Glenn Hooper, Perspectives on Travel Writing (Burlington: Ashgate, 2004), 2-4.
12

Ibid., 3.

predominantly fictional and non-fictional whose theme is travel."13 Borm proposes the
terms "the literature of travel" or "travel literature" in order to stress the literary nature of
travel writing.14 Borm's use of the term travel literature is one I find particularly useful in
describing my research project, classical Chinese poems with travel as a theme composed
by women. The poets focus on the theme of travel, and combine various writing styles,
including lyrical and narrative strategies and genres, such asjiyou f&M (recording a
journey) and youxian i$Mli] (poetry of roaming as a transcendent), into the poems they
compose. So fundamentally these poems are a hybrid body of genres but are unified
under a common theme of travel. In short, my definition of poetry on travel refers very
generally to poems that take a variety of travel, either actual physical journeys or
imaginary travels, as their topic.
The second issue of defining travel concerns translation and cross-cultural
experience. The English term "travel" is only an approximate, not an equivalent to the
Chinese counterpart. Julian Ward argues that in Chinese context, liixing Wtff refers to "a
purposeful journey" and is often "marked by fear and awe." You M, which is frequently
used in the great Chinese traveler Xu Xiake's f l l (1587-1641) travel diaries, implies
a purposeless journey of freedom.15 You "is not only cognate with the verb you meaning
'to swim, float,' but can apply both to mountain excursions and shaman-like aerial

13

Borm, "Defining Travel: On the Travel Book, Travel Writing and Terminology," in Youngs and Hooper,
Perspectives on Travel Writing, 13.

15

You can also involve a strong purpose, as shown in Xiyouji HifiSS (The journey to the West). See
Anthony C. Yu, trans, and ed., The Journey to the West, by Wu Cheng'en ^j;#clS (ca. 1500-1582)
(Chicago: University of Chicago, 1977-1983).

journeys, that is to both real and spiritual journeys."

Having encountered the

difficulties in translating the terms concerning travel between Chinese and English, in his
book Ltixing: Kua wenhua xiangxiang M.fx:

f JCifcM^. (Travel: cross-cultural

imagination), Guo Shaotang f l ^ ^ ' s study of travel terminology in Chinese tradition

reveals a rich picture of travel in the cross-cultural context. 17 Guo further creates his
own divisions of travel styles, including liiyou WM. (leisurely travel), xingyou jfM
(purposeful travel), and shenyou ffiM. (imaginary travel). In brief, scholars have agreed
that travel in the Chinese context has rich meanings embodying cultural multiplicity and
uniqueness, and cannot be translated into English with a single term.
According to the above-mentioned scholarly studies, travel is complex because of
its extensive meanings and philosophical allusions, and yet it is necessary to narrow
down the scope of travel in order to facilitate any discussions on the topic. In English,
one basic meaning of "travel" is "to make a journey; to go from one place to another." 18
I use this term to emphasize the "movement" between places with additional
clarifications in particular cases mentioned in my writing. For women, what is at stake is
being able to move at all: the destination is not the most important thing. Travel is
essentially "an estrangement from the protective environment of the familiar in order to
discover the newness of oneself and of things." 19 In contrast to men, who were

16

Ward, Xu Xiake (1587-1641): The Art of Travel Writing (Richmond: Curzon Press, 2001), 98.

17

Guo, Ltixing: kua wenhua xiangxiang (Beijing: Beijing daxue chubanshe, 2005), 34-45.

18

J. A. Simpson and E. S. C. Weiner, preparers, The Oxford English Dictionary, 2 nd ed., vol. xviii (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1989), 444.
19

Jean-Charles Seigneuret, ed., Dictionary of Literary Themes and Motifs (New York: Greenwood Press,
1988), 1293.

encouraged to travel for personal cultivation and identity formation, it was not considered
either necessary or natural for women, especially elite women, to travel in the wider
world beyond the boudoir (their familiar and familial space), and such travel had to be
justified first. I further divide this bigger category of travel into three subdivisions: actual
journeys, recumbent travel, and roaming as a transcendent. Actual journeys focus on
women's personal experience of leaving the inner chambers to see the world; the latter
two kinds can be grouped into the category of imaginary journeys, which allowed elite
women to more fully exercise their poetic imagination, despite their limited physical
mobility. 20
Travel is about movement between spaces, and for women this meant questioning
the domestic space and moving outward, or crossing gender borders. Focusing on the
Chinese context, Dorothy Ko defines the nei fa and waify\-or inner and outer spheres to
mark the gender spaces and consequently gender roles assigned to women in late imperial
China. Refusing to take the inner/outer as an absolute division for women and men, Ko
emphasizes the "shifting contexts and perspectives." 21 Ko's insistence of the fluidity of
the gender spaces echoes Judith Butler's view that gender is not a given state, but rather
is realized by performing certain acts repeatedly, which means that gender is in constant
state of construction.
The notion of inner/outer spheres reflects the gender roles of both women and
men projected by the dominant power in a given society. This regulates the scope of

20

Imagination about travel also takes place on an actual journey.

21

Ko, Teachers, 12-14.

22

Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (New York and London: Routledge,
1990).

physical and social mobility ideologically, but does not necessarily always reflect actual
practice. However, the general expectation was that men would focus on the outer, and
women on the inner. Focusing on the outer required the formation of communities
beyond the family unit since men were supposed to give their opinions in public. In the
case of women in late imperial China, not only were they prohibited from participating in
politics and public affairs, but also were greatly curtailed by gender norms from leaving
the inner chambers to see the wider world. These prohibitions greatly restricted the scope
of their literary voices. Also, women were not encouraged to establish non-family-based
communities, as these were regarded as conducive to improper behavior. Therefore, to
Chinese female literati, the issue of travel was not only about their physical mobility, but
also concerned the legitimacy of the circulation of their literary voices and community
building.
Kang-i Sun Chang argues that in late imperial China, women writers tried to live
and write more and more like male literati, leading to a kind of "cultural androgyny." 23
The British woman writer Virginia Woolf made a major contribution to the concept of
androgyny. In her long essay "A Room of One's Own" (1929), she argues that every
human being will be more complete by having both male and female characteristics. 24
However, some feminist critics, such as Andrienne Rich, point out the limitation of
androgyny in that the concept accepts the "fixed" cultural constructions imposed on men
and women and puts them in a hierarchical structure with male (andros) over the female

Chang, "Ming-Qing Women Poets and Cultural Androgyny," Tamkang Review: A Quarterly of
Comparative Studies of China and Foreign Literatures xxx, no.2 (1999): 11-25.
24

Woolf, A Room of One's Own (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1929).

(gyne), and ignores female uniqueness.

Indeed, by imitating male literati, women

writers struggled to break out of their gendered marginality in the literary circle, and
sometimes even the social sphere. However, often we find a unique female
consciousness of gender in their poems on travel, which points to a tension between their
femaleness and femininity and their desires to cross and even transgress gender borders.
Toril Moi defines feminism as a political position from the Western women's movement
emerging in the late 1960s; female as a matter of biology; and feminine as a set of
cultural constructions assigned to women. 26 Late imperial Chinese women were not
influenced by Western feminist movements, yet bending the restrictions on engaging in a
male dominated practicewriting poetry, high literature in pre-modern Chinain groups
can be seen as a rather "systematic" protest against the "fixed roles" for women. This
movement did not enter the "public sphere,"27 nor did it aspire to political change, and
only remained within literary circles; however it often exhibited what might be called
proto-feminist characteristics. Chinese literary women frequently had to justify their
writing, and when they did write, they often felt constrained to adhere to characteristic
"feminine" themes and language. Ironically when their writing was subtle and suggestive,
showing some "feminine" features, it would often be rated as mediocre. In this
dissertation, I will show how women constantly struggled at various social boundaries,

25

Rich, "The Kingdom of Fathers," Partisan Review 43, no.l (1976):30.

26

Moi, "Feminist, Female, Feminine," in The Feminist Reader: Essays in Gender and the Politics of
Literary Criticism, ed. Catherine Belsey and Jane Moore (Cambridge, MA and Oxford, UK: Blackwell,
1989), 117-32.
27

Jiirgen Habermas, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of
Bourgeois Society, trans. Thomas Burger with the assistance of Frederick Lawrence (Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press, 1989).

and yet worked out ways to express their desire for movements (mobility, changes)
physically, intellectually and spiritually.
There are five chapters in this dissertation. The first two chapters provide the
background and context, while the last three chapters each focus on a particular theme
related to women's poetry of travel. Chapter One provides a general overview of the
male literati tradition of travel poetry in order to show what it was women writers were
reading, absorbing, imitating and at times, reinscribing for their own purposes. I discuss
the early poetic traditions on travel, male literati poetry that records actual journeys,
poetry on imaginary journeys, and poetry on roaming as a transcendent. Chapter Two is
a survey of women's poetry on travel in pre-modern China, focusing on women's works
from the mid-sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. In this part, I introduce the major
types of travel represented in poems and the major issues reflected in these
representations.
In Chapter Three, I explore the notion of woyou (recumbent travel, or armchair
travel). Because of gender norms, and despite the increasing physical mobility of the
times, most women still remained within the inner quarters and rarely engaged in travel.
However, this does not mean that they did not think about traveling and its poetic and
intellectual benefits. In fact, by adopting and sometimes challenging the male literati
tradition of recumbent travel, women were able to poetically engage in travel themselves.
Chapter Four examines the specific poetic genre of youxian shi iSflljIf (poetry of
roaming as a transcendent). Just as in almost all the poetic genres in Chinese literary
history, this genre was first used by male poets to express their desire, whether literal or
psychological, to transcend the dusty world and enjoy the freedom (and long life) of the

10

immortals. However, in the Qing dynasty, by adding nil ^(female) into the title and reinscribing the old genre creatively, women poets created a new subgenre nil youxian izW:
{llj (roaming as a female transcendent). They combined themselves and women
transcendents into this newly-created subgenre and therefore wrote themselves into the
genre history.
In Chapter Five, I focus my discussion on a single woman poet, Gu Taiqing JS;fc
n (1799-1877), who alhough of Manchu rather than Han background, shared the
aspiration of many gentry women to engage in travel, an aspiration she fulfilled not by
engaging in extended journeys, but by taking frequent excursions with family and friends,
many of which she recorded and memorialized in verse. However, the small steps of Gu
Taiqing symbolize the movement of Chinese elite women out of the boudoir and into the
wider world beyond.

11

Chapter One Poetry on Travel in the Male Literati Tradition

The theme of travel has been ubiquitous in classical Chinese poetry since pre-Qin
periods, but late imperial China especially witnessed an explosion of such poems. A case
in point is yinglian HI (couplets written on pillars left by literati at various scenic spots)
which first appeared in the Northern Song dynasty, but became popular in the Ming, and
flourished in the Qing.28 The concept of travel similar to today's tourism did not rise
until the Ming-Qing period (1368-1911), and the meaning of travel underwent a series of
transformations through time. The poems on travel provide a window for us to
understand how the literary and cultural significances of travel were transformed and
enriched in pre-modern China.
Any discussion on travel poetry must start from the first poetry collection Shijing
MM. (Book of songs) which contains 305 poems, mostly by anonymous authors, dated
from the eleventh century to the sixth century BC. According to the travel poems
included in this anthology, travel mostly refers to xingyi %f$t (traveling to battle). The
poems on going off to war usually focus on the image of zhengren ?EA, soldiers who
travel far to battlefields. In the poem "Zhi Hu"SlIi (Climb the wooded hill), a soldier
climbs the heights and has an imaginary conversation with his family, complaining about
the difficult life forced upon him. 29 The poem "Po f u " l 5 ^ (Broken axes) elaborates on a

28

"Introduction," in Gudai liiyou wenxue zuopin xuandu iftMM.^C^i'ErmMWi,

ed. Feng Naikang MJb
M, 2 nd ed. (Beijing: Liiyou jiaoyu chubanshe, 2002), 45-46. Also see the appendix "Mingsheng guji
duilianjieshao" %M-$til<fri, 374-408.
29

"Shijing, Guofeng, Weifeng, Zhihu"fM'|IIJI,8IJll'BW ( in Shijing leizhuan gf MM&, comp. Fei

Zhengang j | Still et al. (Changchun: Jilin renmin chubanshe, 2000), 369. Arthur Waley, trans., The Book

12

soldier's excitement after unexpectedly surviving a battle.

The well-known poem "Cai

w e i " ^ t ^ (Plucking bracken) is about a heartbroken soldier's journey back home.31

These poems and many others center on criticizing the wars through soldiers'
painful journeys, yet not all of the poems are politically oriented.

Although uncommon,

the pleasure of trips appears occasionally. Fang Yurun ~Jj3iM points out that the poem
"The Zhen and Wei" is a unique poem on travel, as it depicts a spring outing of boys and
girls, who appreciate the scenery while flirting around:33
When the Zhen and Wei
Are running in full flood
Is the time for knights and ladies
To fill their arms with scented herbs.
The lady says, "Have you looked?"
The knight says, "Yes, I have finished looking;
Shall we go and look a little more?
Beyond the Wei
It is very open and pleasant."
That knight and lady,
Merrily they sport.
Then she gives him a peony.

a. "-.aaiBM mzft, ftfjjj*. mmiz, &mm, mz&^m*

34

of Songs: The Ancient Chinese Classic of Poetry, foreword, by Stephen Owen, postface, by Joseph Allen
(New York: Grove Press, 1996), 86-87.
30

"Shijing, Guofeng, Binfeng, Po f u " f t M ' H J l , ' f t J I ' : f i ^ , in Fei, Shijing, 373; Waley, Book of Songs,
126.

31

Fei, Shijing, 381; Waley, Book of Songs, 141.

32

Of course the political interpretation is largely based on the commentaries in many cases. See Haun
Saussy, The Problem of a Chinese Aesthetic (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1993).

33

Fang Runyu 3"vfl|3i, Shijingyuanshi f#ijJi#n, quoted in Feng, Gudai liiyou, 3.

34

"Shijing, Zhengfeng, Zhen Wti"WM.-MM,'Mffi,

in Zhou Zhenfu fflMlfi, annotator, Shijingyizhu | # M
l i l t (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2002), 131-33; Waley, Book of Songs, 76.

13

After the Book of Songs, the second most important poetry collection was Chuci
MSf (Poetry of the Chu, or the Songs of the South), and the major contributor to this
collection was Qu Yuan JSJii (ca. 340-278BC), the first great Chinese poet and an ardent
traveler in action and spirit. Liu Xie !]$& (ca. 465-522) argues that"... the reason Qu
Yuan was able to fully examine the mood (qing) of the Book of Songs and Li Sao was, I
am sure, the assistance of those rivers and mountains" #SJBtiiK#f iUtb^Jm. ((JO

((H))

Qu Yuan was a loyal statesman who was misunderstood and eventually banished
by the King of Chu, and the vicissitudes of his life are well reflected in his poems
centering on spiritual journeys. His most famous work "Lisao" iHH (Encountering
sorrow) is about the lyrical speaker's symbolic journey of escaping from mundane
frustration and seeking ideals. Paul Fussell points out that by its nature, any travel is an
escape: "The escape is also from the traveler's domestic identity, and among strangers a
new sense of selfhood can be tried on, like a costume."36 Fussell's argument is especially
appropriate when examining Qu Yuan's case. The lyrical speaker is often interpreted as
Qu Yuan himself. When his domestic identity as a minister failed, he put on a wild and
strange costume as the wanderer in the poem, going on an imaginary journey that is full
of fresh images such as plants, animals, and immortals beyond this world. It is precisely

35

See the section of "Wuse" $9fi (The sensuous colors of physical things), in Stephen Own, Readings in
Chinese Literary Thought (Cambridge, MA and London: Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard
University, 1992), 285; also see Siu-kit Wong, Allan Chung-hang Lo, and Kwong-tai Lam, trans., The
Book of Literary Design (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1999), 171. See Yang Mingzhao ^HfJ
M, annotator and supplementer, Wenxin diaolongjiaozhu 3 t ' h ! t t i t x ! i (Shanghai: Zhonghua shuju,
1964), 295.
36

Paul Fussell, ed., The Norton Book of Travel (New York and London: W.W. Norton & Company, 1987),
13.

14

this supernatural journey that provides "a new sense of selfhood" for Qu Yuan to escape
and explore: "Long, long had been my road and far, far was the journey:/1 would go up
and down to seek my heart's desire" $&W.W>Mi&M^, ^ M T W ^ H . 3 7 For Qu Yuan,
travel goes beyond the physical movement, and serves as a powerful vehicle for poetic
self-expression, especially for venting political frustration, adding a strong sense of self
into the history of Chinese poetry on travel.
In Wenxuan ~3cM (Selections of refined literature),38 another important early
anthology, compiled by the crown prince Xiao Tong M^i (501-531) of the Liang dynasty,
the poems are arranged according to various categories, including those on traveling:
"Jixing"^fi;ff (Recording journeys), MW "Youlan"(Sightseeing), Midi "Youxian"
(Roaming as a transcendent), and "XinghT'fi1 if? (Long-distance traveling). Such a
categorization symbolizes a clear recognition of poetry on travel as a representative type
of poetry in Chinese literature.
Modern scholar Li Boqi's ^ { 6 ^ f monograph Zhongguo gudaijiyou wenxueshi
4 1 Ml^iX%^M'3C^$.

(A literary history of pre-modern Chinese literature on travel) is a

detailed history on travel writing in pre-modern China. 39 In this book, Li Boqi excludes
those writings which are on travel, but not about an actual journey taken, such as those

37

Qu, "Lisao," in Zhu Xi iM (1130-1200), annotator, Chucijizhu g i f Msf., comp. Li Qingjia $ J f fP

(Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1979), 1-27. For the English translation, see David Hawkes, Ch 'u
Tz'u (The Songs of the South): An Ancient Chinese Anthology (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1959), 28. Also
see You Guo'en J S I U S et al., Chucijishi S l f MW (Hong Kong: Xianggang wenyuan shuwu, 1962).
38

For an English translation, see David R. Knechtges, trans., Wenxuan or Selections of Refined Literature,
vols. 2 and 3 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987, 1996).
39

Li, Zhongguo gudaijiyou wenxueshi (Jinan: Shandong youyi shushe, 1989). Li's book is mainly on male
literati's works.

15

imagined journeys through an armchair. This kind of imagined journey however, is very
important to women poets whose mobility was largely limited by gender norms under my
discussions in the later chapters. Furthermore, it is hard to have a clear-cut division
between what is imagined and what is not, since with the interaction between qing ff?
(affections) and^'mg M (scene), literary imagination is always present. In the Wenxin
diaolong jfcJL>|ff f t (Elaborations on the literary mind), Liu Xie comments on such an
interaction between affections and scene:
When poets were stirred by physical things, the categorical associations were
endless. They remained drifting through all the images (xiang) or the world, even
to their limit, and brooded thoughtfully on each small realm of what they saw and
heard. They sketched qi and delineated outward appearance, as they themselves
were rolled round and round in the course of things; they applied coloration (cai)
and matched sounds, lingering on about things with their minds..

Generally speaking, poems on travel constantly combine a poet's observation of

the journey and his mental responses. For the above-mentioned reasons, I will divide the
poems under discussion into three categories that reflect this general characteristic as well
as the individuality of each category: poetry on a journey actually taken, poetry of using
the notion of woyou, and poetry of roaming as a transcendent. I will focus on shi poems
(classical poems), but also include some ci poems (song-lyrics) and the works in fu form
(rhapsody), when necessary, in order to show the multiplicity of the poetic forms for
representing travel.

Yang, Wenxin diaolong, 294. For the English translation, see Owen, Readings in Chinese Literary
Thought, 279. Also see Wong, Lo and Lam, Book of Literary Design, 169.

16

Poetry on a Journey Actually Taken

This category includes the majority of the poems on travel, and I will briefly
discuss the fu,41 shi or ci poems in this section. With its prosaic characteristics, the Han
rhapsody excels at displaying scenery and elaborating on a situation. Liu Xin's %\\W\
(ca.53-23BC) "Suichu fu"Ji^JK (Rhapsody on hermitage), Ban Biao's S ^ (3-54)
"Beizheng fu":jt;flEK (Rhapsody on a journey to the North), Ban Zhao's Jfi0(ca.48ca.l 18) "Dongzheng fvC'MMM, (Rhapsody on a journey to the East), and Cai Yong's H
H (132-192) "Shuxing fu"*ffffi (Rhapsody on a journey) are important ^M works of
this kind.42 Ban Biao's "Rhapsody on a Journey to the North," for instance, is about his
own exile from the capital Chang'an around 25 AD43 when the Red Eyebrow rebels
invaded the area. With a detailed itinerary observation of the scenery on the road the
rhapsody ultimately aims at a deeper concern: "This traveler mourns for his old home; /
My heart, sad and sorrowful, is pained with longing" M^M^^lM*

'LVttltWll 1$.44

As Paul Fussell points out, "it is not enough for landscape to be interesting in itself.
According to the genre division in the Selections of Refined Literature, fu belongs to neither prose nor
poetry because fu is a semi-prosaic and semi-metric form. In Zhongguo wenxue shi tonglan
^^'SC^^fcM.
W (A complete history of Chinese literature), ed. Zhou Yang M1i% et al. (Shanghai: Dongfang chuban
zhongxin, 2005), fu is considered an independent category and juxtaposed with poetry and prose. In
Zhongguo fenti wenxueshi c t , H ^ f r 3 t ^ r i (A history of Chinese literature arranged in genres), comp.
Zhao Yishan ffilt ill and Li Xiusheng ^ { | j ^ i (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2001),/ is included in
the volume of prose (sanwen juan ffcjt^l) as it has a strong tendency for exposition, while Western
scholars, such as David R. Knechtges, Stephen Owen and Wilt L. Idema consider fu part of poetry. See
Knechtges, Wenxuan; Owen, An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911 (New York: W.W.
Norton & Company, 1996); Idema and Lloyd Haft, A Guide to Chinese Literature (Ann Arbor: Center for
Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, 1997). Although the forms of fu changed with the times, if we
trace it back to its origin, we find that it had a tight connection with poetry, and as Ban Gu $ [ 5 | (32-92) put
it, "The rhapsody is a genre of the ancient Songs" ls#, "Slf ;.jjjfc-tJl. See, Knechtges, Wenxuan, vol. 1,
93. Therefore, I include fu in my brief history of poetry on travel.
See Li, Zhongguo gudaijiyou, 36-39.
43

See the note on the historical background of Ban's journey in Knechtges, Wenxuan, vol. 2,165-66.

44

Knechtges, Wenxuan, vol. 2, 171.

17

Eventually there must be a moral and historic interest."

Ban Biao constantly wove his

story and history together: "I extol Zhao of Qin for punishing the bandits: Flushed with
anger, / northward he marched" B^tinZMM,

i l ^ T ^ t U b f f i . 4 6 Here Ban Biao

compares himself to a heroic king, signifying his own exile to the north as a minor
official by linking it to a powerful king's heroic expedition, which raises an exile up to
the level of a brave fight against the miserable reality in which he was powerless.
There is a large body of s hi poems on the theme of travel, among which many are
inspired by nature, including shanshui shi lll/Kif (landscape poetry) and tianyuan shi H.
HI Wf (pastoral poetry). J. D. Frodsham challenges the traditional division between these
two types of poetry, and calls both "nature poetry," referring to "the genre which uses the
landscape, whether majestically rugged or charmingly rustic, as a means of conveying
ethical principles."47 Frodsham's suggestion is useful here for discussing the poems that
focus on reflecting nature during travels.
The Wei-Jin period was an age of literary awakening 48 during which the "self of
the poets was being strengthened. In this period, Cao CaoWM (155-220) could be
considered a representative poet. His "Guan Canghai"|i^V$ (Looking at the vast blue

Fussell, Norton Book of Travel, 16-17.

46

Knechtges, Wenxuan, vol. 2, 171. For the story of Zhao of Qin (r. 306-251 BC), see note for L21-23,
Knechtges, 166.

47

Frodsham, The Murmuring Stream: The Life and Works of the Chinese Nature Poet Hsieh Ling-yun
MW.M(385-433), Duke ofK'ang-Lo, vol.l(Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya Press, 1967), 88.

48

Lu Xun #ffl, "Cao Pi's age is an age of literary self-awareness." W3i6<J^f@B#ft BTt|l ' X # W
H#ft,'..." In "Weijin fengduji wenzhangyu yao ji jiu zhi guanxi" &W M.&.RXMf&MRffl2.ffl&,
ji ffl B f t , in Lu Xun quanji #iBi^rft, vol. 3(Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 2005), 526.

18

S*
Eryi

sea) is considered "the first relatively mature shi poem on travel in Chinese literary
history:"49
In the East from the top of Rock Jie,
(I) look at the vast blue sea.
How the water is heaving, heaving!
Mountain islands stand aloft.
Trees grow densely,
The hundred herbs are luxuriant and flourishing;
The autumn wind is howling,
Mighty waves swell and rise.
The orbit of Sun and Moon
Seems to come out of their midst,
The bright brilliance of the Star-River
Seems to come out of their interior.
A blessing of the uttermost!
A song to express the will.

50

In 207, in order to eradicate Yuan Shao's 3jst$8 (d. 202) army, Cao Cao led an army to the
north. Standing on the top of the Jieshi Mountain51 next to the sea, he composed this

Li, Zhongguo gudaijiyou, 43.

Cao Cao is the first Chinese poet who describes the sea and expresses his political ambition through such
a description. The "Looking at the Vast Blue Sea" is one section of the poem with the old title from yuefu
poetry "Buchu xiamen xing'^LBftflfi 1 . See the entire poem and commentary in Chen Qingyuan ^ J U T U ,
San Cao shixuanping H W I ^ S f F (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2002), 16-21. The translation is
from Diether von den Steinen, trans, and annotator, "Poems of Ts'ao Ts'ao," Monumenta Serica (Journal of
Oriental Studies of the Catholic University of Peking) IV (1939-1940): 125-81. Also see Wai-lim Yip, ed.
and trans., Chinese Poetry: An Anthology of Major Modes and Genres (Durham and London: Duke
University Press, 1997), 132-33.
51

Located in Licheng flj$, (modern Southwest to Leting M^ county, Hebei M4fc province). See note 2,
in Yu Guanying ^ 7 3 3 1 and Wei Fengjuan # H # i , eds., Gushi jingxuan "Slf IfJS (Nanjing: Jiangsu guji
chubanshe, 1992), 139.

19

poem to express his ambition of reuniting China. In such poems, nature is mainly a
carrier of qing (emotions) or zhi (true intentions).

For instance, during the chaotic time

at the end of the Eastern Han, many poets expressed their desperation or criticism
through the descriptions of the nature ravaged in human disasters as shown in Wang
Can's i l l (177-217) "Seven Laments"("Qi ai shi"-fcj^) and Lu Ji's WM (261-303)
"Written on the Way to Luoyang" ("Fu Luo daozhong zuo"

fttfaM^W).53

This poetic tradition of exploring social chaos through journeys continued in the
later dynasties, especially during times of dynastic collapse. The Song-Yuan and MingQing transitions (losing power to non-Han conquerors of Mongol and Manchu) were
typical of this kind. At the end of the Song, poems such as General Wen Tianxiang's 3t
JsM- (1236-1282) "Guo Lingding yang" i i # T # (Sailing on Lonely Ocean) merged
his pain over the dynastic fall into his trip of crossing the sea.54 The Lonely Sea is part of
the Southern Sea, particularly the areas at the foot of the Lingding Island near modern
Zhongshan 41 dl, Guangdong JMW. province. The other site, Perilous Beach, is located in
present-day Wan'an Jjix. County, Jiangxi EHJ province. In Wen Tianxiang's poem, the
two places separated by a great distance from each other become a metaphor for the
miserable situation he and his dynasty were facing: lonely and full of fear. The two

52
Shiyan zhi If llfJcJ and shiyuan qing iiref^fif are two major theories in Chinese literary tradition. Such
theories focus on the poet as the center of writing, and the work is considered a reflection of the poet's
mind. Wang Jimin I $ | K , comp., Zhongguo gudai wenlun chenshu 45III"El5"f^;fcll$ti (Wuhan:
Huazhong shifan daxue chubanshe, 2002), 8-14.

Yu and Wei, Gushijingxuan, 152-55, 204-06; J. D. Frodsham, trans and annotator, with the collaboration
of Ch'eng Hsi, An Anthology of Chinese Verse: Han Wei Chin and the Northern and Southern Dynasties
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1967), 26-27, 89-90.
Xu Yuanzhong, trans, and versifier, Song of the Immortals: An Anthology of Classical Chinese Poetry,
bilingual ed. (Beijing: New World Press, 1994), 272,456.

20

journeys, Wen Tianxiang's trip of crossing the Sea (1279) and his journey of life, link
damaged nature to a life without dignity.
During the Ming-Qing transition, Ming loyalists were a major force in creating
travel poems to fight against the Manchu conquerors intellectually. Chen Zilong St-pf!
(1608-1647), a Ming loyalist and poet, described himself as a tragic hero in front of his
broken homeland in "Various Feelings on an Autumn Day"("Qiuri zagan"#C 0 H ^ ) :
"Mountains and Rivers fill my vision; grief as far as I can see./.../1 wail at the Xin
Pavilion as I raise my cup" M i \k)\\WM%L ,

M^M^~IMF.55

Kang-i Sun

Chang argues that as a tragic hero, Chen Zilong's strong will after numerous failures and
his tragic outcry at the fall of the Ming represent actions typical of a Ming loyalist.56 The
mountains and rivers, the stimulus and reflection of the poet's patriotism, became highly
symbolic to the degree that whether they themselves are accurately represented does not
matter at all. The landscape stops being merely objective, and the poets themselves often
stop being mere bystanders but part of the tragic landscape that bears national
significance.
The symbolic meaning of the mountains and rivers not only comes from the
poets' deliberate poetic construction, but also has something to do with the traveler's
actual perspective. For instance, standing on the top of a mountain or any high place, the
perspective of observing the view from the upper to the lower offers a broader and clearer
vision. The speaker can envision a bigger goal which arouses his ambition as shown in
Cao Cao's "Looking at the Vast Blue Sea," or feels the smallness or limitation of human
55

Kang-i Sun Chang, The Late-Ming Poet Ch 'en Tzu-lung: Crises of Love and Loyalism (New Haven and
London: Yale University Press, 1991), 103.
56

Chapter Seven, "Tragic Heroism in Shih Poetry," in Chang, Late-Ming Poet, 102-08.

21

beings, which provokes sadness as exemplified in Du Fu's tt "^5(712-770) poem

"Denggao" Sift (Climbing the heights). 57 Thus a subgenre of travel poetry "Climbing
the Heights" came into being. In fact, the literati's connections to this subgenre were not
only political or emotional, but of moral and cultural significance. Already during the
Spring and Autumn period (770-476 BC), Confucius considered writing on this theme as
a necessary quality for ajunzi H " ? (gentleman): "Whenever a gentleman climbs the
heights, he will definitely describe it in words" f | - f SiftilftK. 58 In history, many
recluses inspired by Buddhism or Daoism hid in the mountains and thought of "the spirits
of great men when ascending heights.. ."59 Indeed, climbing the heights not only
physically raises a person's perspective to a higher point, but uplifts his spirit. In this
sense, traveling is a purifying process of learning from the wise. Yet people in the
traveler's thoughts are not only sages or recluses, but common characters, family and
friends. The ninth day of the ninth month in Chinese lunar calendar, the traditional
Chongyang J L P Festival (also known as Double Ninth Festival), has customarily been

57

Quart Tangshi ^ i S I $ , comp. Zhonghua shuju bianjibu ^^HFJljiiitiBP, vol. 4 (Beijing: Zhonghua
shuju, 1999), 227.2468. William Hung, Tu Fu: China's Greatest Poet (Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 1952), 249.
58

Han Ying $f K (fl. 150BC), Han shi wai zhuan ff f t h # , in Wenyuange siku quanshu 'SCffM M ^ f t
jingbu feSP, shilei f $ H , 7.14b. Also see Zhai Minggang IIHJWJ, "Shilun Zhongguo wenxue zhong de
denggao z h u t i " | $ t | 4 ' H 3 t * ( : r 1 W S R S , Xibei minzu xueyuan xuebao WikRM^L^%L
4
(1996):171-75.
59

Susan Bush, "Tsung Ping's Essay on Painting Landscape and the 'Landscape Buddhism' of
Mount Lu," in Theories of the Arts in China, ed. Susan Bush and Christian Murck (Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1983), 138.

22

the day of climbing the heights, and composing poems for this occasion has become a
poetic tradition. 60
Contrary to the political or other serious meanings literati have given to poetry
on travel, some poets focus on its pleasurable and aesthetic aspects. In the fourth century,
the rise of Xie Lingyun H t S i S (385-433) marked the popularity of the poems on
mountains and rivers. About a hundred of Xie Lingyun's poems survive today, most of
which are on travel.61 Xie's prosperous family in Shining # p ^ , Kuaiji #"ff (present-day
Shangyu JllH, Zhejiang 3f ZL province) well prepared him for an official career, yet he
soon grew tired of it. Different from the Wei-Jin writers mentioned above, Xie Lingyun
retreated from the political circle of the time and focused on the landscape itself. Instead
of weighty social concerns, his poems reflect the spirit of a hermit enjoying himself in
nature: "Inclining my ear I listen to the surging billows/And raising my eyes behold the
craggy p e a k s " f l i ^ # ^ p , | l @ I P I J ^ . 6 2 However, the hermit's stance can often be
considered the result of political frustration and perceived as self-cultivation. Even
though he often focused on the beauties of nature, some of his poems still inherited the
Shijing-Chuci tradition of using poetry to express political gain and loss:

Early spring has replaced the drawn-out winds,

The new sun changes the old shadows.
The pond is growing springtime plants,
Garden willows have turned to singing birds.
60

See Tao Yuanming and Wang Wei's poems on "climbing the heights." See the state of the field on the
denggao poetry in Liu Huairong S l J M ^ et al., Er shi shiji yilai Xian Qin zhi Tangdai shigeyanjiu ZZ.+ttt
&filil*5fcilMJf
fttt;^
(Jinan: Qilu shushe, 2006), 236-47.
61

Li, Zhongguo gudaijiyou, 67.

62

Xie, "Deng chishang lou" WtklM.

See Yu and Wei, Gushijingxuan, 267-70; Francis Westbrook's
translation in Liu Wu-chi and Irving Yucheng Lo, eds., Sunflower Splendor: Three Thousand Years of
Chinese Poetry (Bloomington and London: Indiana University Press, 1975), 62.

23

"Droves."I am pierced by the Song of Bin,

"Lush and green"moved by the tune of Chu.
Living apart can easily last forever;
It's hard to quit the flock with a tranquil mind.
Holding to principle is not only a thing of old;
That I am without regret is proven today.

63

Travel and poetry have an interesting connection partly because as the geographic
map expands, the scope of poetic topic and form progress as well. The development of
travel poetry reached its golden age in the Tang when the economic, political and cultural
conditions became better for traveling literati. Du Fu vividly described Tang prosperity
during the Kaiyuan ffljt period (713-741):
I remember that in the glorious decades, a quarter of a century ago,
Even a small district might contain ten thousand households,
And the glutinous rice was fat and the ordinary rice white,
And how they filled up the granaries both public and private!
No panthers or tigers paced the roads of the Empire;
Distant travelers never worried whether the day was lucky or not.
The fine fabrics of Qi and Lu could be seen on long lines of merchant's carts;
Men plowed the fields; women tended the silkworms; all were happy at work.

64

63

Ibid.

24

During this period, travelers had better security andfinancialsupport. The literati's
passion for travel greatly expanded their vision for the world and poetry writing. Du Fu,
the poet historian, who was famous for his poems of witnessing history, even wrote a
poem entitled "Zhuangyou" ^till 65 (Traveling boldly), giving a rich account of his
journeys in life. Li Bai ^ E=l (701-762), the poet immortal, who strove for Daoist
immortality and roamed widely took travel as his life-long passion: "Of the long trips to
sacred mountains I make light;/All my life I have loved to visit famous height."iE|ft#/flIl

W i t , -%.MA%\hm.66
During the Tang, literati were not only fascinated with long-distance journeys, but
also shorter excursions. Two places that were frequently visited were private estates and
temples. The prosperous economy promoted the construction of many private villas in a
grand scale at great expense, and "estate poetry" about traveling to these estates, rose.67
Wang Wei's ZEffi (701-761) twenty poems 68 about his private estate Wangchuan $P1JI|
were representative works. Visiting a nearby estate was not about covering a distance,
but positioning oneself in a private space for self enjoyment and deeper contemplation, a
way of "self-fashioning:"

64

Du, "Yi xi'^tS^, in Quan Tangshi, vol.4, 222.2363-64. The translation is from Hung, Tu Fu, 203.

65

Quan Tangshi, vol. 4, 220.2328-29.

66

Li, "Lushan yaoji Lu Shiyu Xuzhou" AiksS^AfeMAft.

translation in Xu, Song of the Immortals, 75.

Quan Tang shi, vol. 3, 173.1778. See the

67

Stephen Owen, "The Formation of the Tang Estate Poem," Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 55, no. 1
(1995): 39-59.

68

Quan Tang shi, vol. 2, 128.1300-01. For the English translation and commentary, see Pauline Yu, The
Poetry of Wang Wei: New Translations and Commentary (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1980).
This set of poems is often interpreted as examples to show Wang Wei's Buddhist association.

25

Bamboo Lodge
Alone I sit amid the dark bamboo,
Play the zither and whistle loud again.
In the deep wood men do not know
The bright moon comes to shine on me.

ttSff!
W^AT^U,

m^mm*

69

Lakeside Pavilion
A light bark greets the honored guest,
Far and distant, coming across the lake.
On the porch, each with goblets of wine:
On all four sides lotuses bloom.

%&mmm, mmmmm.70
Wang Wei's poems in sets represent the trend of writing travel poems in sets that
has lasted throughout the ages. Some other such poems include Liu Changqing's f'JIIUBP
(709-786?) "My Journeys in the Middle Part of Hunan"#f45lfi1" (ten poems), Pi
Rixiu's j 0 # (ca. 834-883) "Poems on Taihu"^cS8^p (twenty poems with a preface)
and Fan Chengda's ^f&A (1126-1193) "Miscellaneous Poems on the Fields and
Gardens in Four Seasons"|Z3B# EB H i t JU" (sixty poems with a preface).71

Quart Tangshi, vol. 2, 128.1301. The English translation is from Yu, Poetry ofWang Wei, 204.
Quan Tangshi, vol.2, 128.1300. The English translation is from Yu, Poetry of Wang Wei, 202.
71

Quan Tang shi,vo\3,148.1517-18; vol.9, 610.7089-97; Fan Chengda, Shihujushi shiji fifflMMM, in
Fan Shihuji f[ffi$9Sl (Shanghai:Zhonghua shuju, 1962), 27.372-77.

26

During the Tang, it was popular to visit and write about the temples as both
Buddhism and Daoism reached their prosperity during this period. 72 If a poet took the
effort to visit and write about them, he was probably somewhat interested in religious
beliefs. In this case, Wang Wei can also serve as a perfect example. He is called shifo W
ffi (Buddha of Poetry) in literary history because of his profound attachment with Chan
Buddhism. One of his well-known poems on visiting temples was "Guo Xiangjisi"iii#
lMTp(Visiting the temple of gathered fragrance):
I do not know the Temple of Gathered Fragrance,
For several miles, entering cloudy peaks.
Ancient trees, paths without people;
Deep in the mountains, where is the bell?
Noise from the spring swallows up lofty rocks;
The color of the sun chills green pines.
Toward dusk by the curve of an empty pond,
Peaceful meditation controls poison dragons.

The focus of the poem is not the temple itself, but using the idea of the place to construct
a peaceful religious atmosphere. In the last line, Wang Wei uses two Buddhist terms
anchan (peaceful meditation) and dulong (poisonous dragons, evil thoughts).74 The
72

Visiting and writing about temples was not a new phenomenon. For example, in the Northern and
Southern dynasties, temples were frequently built. The Tang poet | f t (803-852) wrote about this in his
poem entitled "Jiangnan chun" H l S f # : "The Southern Dynasties' temples, / four hundred and eighty in all,
/ are how many high halls and terraces / in the misty rain"SHIfflW A T F , ^ ^ I l i l B i l l + The English
translation is from Owen, Anthology of Chinese Literature, 504-05.
73

Quan Tangshi, vol.2, 126.1274. The English translation is from Yu, Poetry of Wang Wei, 164.

74

The term dulong comes from a story about the Buddha in the Da zhi du lun ^ ; | ? S f # . In the story, the
Buddha once appeared in the shape of a powerful poisonous dragon capable of hurting people. As the story
goes, he eventually accepted the Buddhist restrictions and was caught by the hunter who peeled his skin off
and left thousands of little bugs gnawing on his body. Eventually his body was taken apart completely, and

27

Buddhist elements strengthen the quietness created by the poetic descriptions of the
natural environment around the temple, and add a sense of spiritual purification. Temples
are often purposefully built in a beautiful natural environment, partially for attracting
visitors who desire religious pursuit and a retreat from normal life. 75 Therefore poems
on the temples are usually about both the spiritual enlightenment and visual pleasure at
the same time.
Even the poets who were not interested in religions, or were even against them,
also touched upon the topic, for a temple is not only for religious worship, but an
important site for social and cultural activities. Part of Han Yu's $$M (768-824)
reputation comes from his well-known essay to the emperor "Jian Ying Fogu Biao" aitiQl
ft#^

(Memorial discussing the Buddha's bone). 76 In the essay, for which he almost

lost his life, Han Yu criticized blind worship of the Buddha. Despite his doubts about
Buddhism, Buddhist culture, nevertheless, is part of his poetic creation. Although his
interest in Buddhist temples was certainly different from Wang Wei who was a Buddhist
layman, the characters in the temples, ghosts, gods and the hell in the murals, and even

at that time he became the Buddha. See Nagarjuna, Da zhi du lun, trans. KumarajTva, vol. 2 (Taibei: Zhen
shan mei chubanshe, 1967), 14.49-60, especially 49.
75

Li Fangmin ^ 5 f K, "Tangdai fojiao siyuan wenhuayu shige chuangzuo"jf f ^ t ^ K 3 t f t , J ^ t I f c ; t ! j

W, Wen shi zhe X$.*S 5 (2005): 97.

76

See Owen, Anthology of Chinese Literature, 598-601.

28

the monks serving at the temples inspired Han Yu's poems with a playful or sarcastic

Besides the murals and monks who were directly related to Buddhism, there were
also non-religious activities taking place in the temples such asflowerappreciation and
no

poem composition in the temples individually or in groups.

The natural and cultural

landscapes provoked rich poetic images for the Tang poets, and the models they
established certainly inspired later poets.
During the Song period, the literati travels continued to increase and spread in
both the rural and the growing urban environments. An important new social class, the
scholar-officials, rose after the full implementation of the civil service examination
system at the beginning of the Song; as a result, their careers were even more tightly
7Q

connected to travel.

The scholar-officials not only had to travel to enhance their

learning and to take exams, but also had to constantly relocate under the restrictions of
"rules of avoidance" to avoid taking positions in their hometown or surrounding areas, as

77

Chen Yunji M.ft^n, "Lun Tangdai simiao bihua dui Han Yu shige de yingxiang" BmJS j ^ ^ J l i l l J i S f f l
MSfcWiKlP, Fudan xuebao ftS.^M. (Tffi&) 1 (1983): 72-80. Han Yu also has poems mocking the
monks entitled "Mocking the Snoring"tl#T!f, in Quan Tang shi, vol. 5, 345.3878-79. Han Yu's playful
usage of the temple scenes became well known to later poets, such as the Qing poet Yuan Mei MML (17161797). See his Suiyuan shihua HtBlif 15, 14.9b, in Suiyuan quanji BUS^ili, vol. 5 (Shanghai: Wenming
shuju, 1918).
78

Li Fangmin offers a detailed study of the interaction between Tang literati and Buddhist temples, see his
"Tangdai fojiao," 97. Also, among the numerous poems on this topic, Bai Juyi's poem "You Wuzhensi shi
yibai sanshi y u n " 3 S t H ^ | # W H + l i was the longest poem on travel in the Tang dynasty. See Quan
Tang shi, vol. 7,429.4744-46. See Ge Xiaoyin 3|iJ|ii=f, "Shiwen zhi bian he yi wen wei shijian xi Han
Yu, Bai Juyi, Su Shi de sanshoujiyou shi" If & # W J S ^ - i t t / r f f i t , &JSB, H M W H t t C
MmS, in her Han Tang wenxue de shanbian jftlS J t ^ WM88 (Beijing: Beijing daxue chubanshe, 1990),
305-14.
79

Peter Bol, "The Culture of Ours: " Intellectual Transitions in T'ang and Sung China (Stanford: Stanford
University Press, 1992): 32-33.

29

well as following the "three-year tenure rule" to prevent serving in one post more than
three years. 80 Poets such as Su Shi &$ (1037-1101), Lu You BM (1125-1210), and
Fan Chengda wrote many poems on the journeys for their official relocations. 81
The rise of urban culture and ci poetry were two outstanding characteristics of this
period, and such social and literary developments led to the re-invention of travel poetry.
Liu Yong $P?K (ca. 971-1053) 82was a major ci poet of the wanyue $&&*J (restrained)
school. Because of his failure in the civil examinations, he spent most of his life in the
entertainment quarters in cities such as Bianjing \-~M (the capital),

Suzhou W')'\'\ and

Hangzhou $i'}\'\. One of his unique literary contributions was his poetic descriptions of
the people wandering in the cities:
The bamboo pipes strike the Vernal Note,
The harmonious spirit of yang begins to fill
the Imperial city,
And gentle warmth returns to the sunny scene.
Let us celebrate the festival
Of the First Full Moon!
Florid Lanterns are displayed
Over thousands and myriads of doors.
All over the nine avenues
The wind lightly wafts the perfume from silk dresses.
The "red trees" are lit up for miles,
The Turtle Hill stands high,
And the sky resounds with flutes and drums.
Gradually, the sky becomes like water,
As the white moon reaches its zenith.
80

Cong Zhang, "The Culture of Travel in Song China (960-1276)," Ph.D. diss. (University of Washington,
2003), 57.
1

These three poets all had experience of official relocations, including political banishment, and many of
their travel poems were written during their exile.
82

See Benjamin B. Ridgway, "Imagined Travel: Displacement, Landscape, and Literati Identity in the Song
Lyrics of Su Shi (1037-1101)," Ph.D. diss. (University of Michigan, 2005).
83

Modern Kaifeng Htj M, Henan M S province.

30

On the fragrant paths,

Countless hat strings are broken and fruit thrown.
As night wears on, in the candles' shades and flowers'
shadows,
A young man often
Has an unexpected adventure.
In this time of peace,
The court and the country are full of joys; the people,
Happy and prosperous,
Gather together in contentment.
Facing such a scene, how
Could I bear to go home sober alone?

mmm^w, ^mm^ m%mm. MU> E I . nmm^

ftftwso x^m. mmm&m#o mfr&w* mfo%, &ummm

* .

8 4

Of

Song poetry has a close relationship with its Tang predecessors.

For example,

one of the characteristics of Song shi poetry is that it tends to be full of allusions,
comments and rare vocabulary, having its origin in the Tang poets such as Han Yu
mentioned above. These characteristics also influenced some travel poems, such as
Wang Anshi's "In Reply to Pingfu on Scanning Mount Jiuhua from a Boat" ("He Pingfu
zhouzhong wang J i u h u a ' ^ n ^ ^ ^ - ^ M A ^ ) .

86

For both Chinese original and English translation, see James J. Y. Liu, Major Lyricists of the Northern
SungA.D. 960-1126 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1974), 75-80. Of course, there were also many
poems on traveling to the countryside. Li Boqi argues that the number and the quality of the poems on the
countryside in the Song were unprecedented. See Li, Zhongguo gudaijiyou, 225.
A previously popular periodization considers the Tang as the golden and the last age of shi poetry.
Therefore the Song, the first dynasty after the Tang, represented the beginning of the fall of shi poetry.
However, in his book An Introduction to Sung Poetry, Yoshikawa Kojiro argues that Song poetry has its
own merits in that it is not a mere imitation of Tang poetry, but in fact has its own distinguishable
characteristics. Kojiro, An Introduction to Sung Poetry, trans. Burton Watson (Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 1967), 24.
86

Li, Zhongguo gudaijiyou, 207.

31

The Ming dynasty, especially the late Ming period (mid-16 century to 1644),
witnessed a burst in publication of travel writings. There are various reasons for this
development: first, as commercial travel services became more accessible and affordable,
travel became more popular. Professional explorers, such as Xu Xiake widely travelled
through popular and out-of-way areas.

Second, in addition to the obligated travels for

official assignments, literati's "travel-for-pleasure" became an obsession which

DO

distinguished them from other travelers,

and writings about their journeys certainly

contributed to their self-fashioning. Third, the development of publication stimulated the

readership of travel writings. The spread of printing even encouraged specialized
collections of poetry on travel, and this trend became outstanding in the Qing dynasty.89
Fourth, several famous literary groups such as the Gong'an -:&; school and Jingling %
W. school considered poems on travel as an important part of their works. The two
schools both emphasized the importance of expressing the author's original and authentic
feelings. The representative of the Gong'an school, Yuan Hongdao iefMvi. (1568-1610),
pointed out the importance of travel for poetry writing in commenting the experience of
another Gong'an poet, his brother Yuan Zhongdao's ^ ^ i H (1570-1623):
He took a boat to the Xiling Gorge and rode a horse to the border area, exhausting
the views of Yan, Zhao, Qi, Lu, Wu and Yue. His footprints reached almost half
the world. For this reason, his poems and essays greatly improved. His works
mostly expressed his unique feelings, not confined to conventions. If it was not
flowing out of his heart, he would refuse to set his brush to it. Sometimes his
poems perfectly matched the views, and within a short moment, he could work
out a thousand words which caught readers' souls.
Timothy Brook, The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1998), 174-79.
88

Ibid, 182.

89

Li, Zhongguo gudai jiyou, 404, 421-22.

32

ft, ^ # T * , W^p1fH^#, tM^J^f-W, 2nzK3lC, ^Am^o

90

Zhong Xing H I S (1574-1624) of the Jingling school was also known for his
travel poetry. He was fascinated with Mount Tai and would even risk his life in order to
see the extraordinary view at the top of the mountain: "If not because my life also
belongs to the emperor and the country, / 1 would risk my life for the dangerous view on
the Terrace of Giving up Life [on Mount Tai]" JfM.fo&WifflG,

MMM.&MM

During the Qing dynasty, as interest in travel continued to increase among the
literati, some poets became famous for writing about a certain place. For instance, Li E
M i l (1692-1752) was famous for his poems on Hangzhou $L')M; Wu Zhaoqian ^ j ^ H
(1631-1684) focused on the border views and the northeast area; Hong Liangji $k^~n
(1746-1809) traveled in the Xinjiang f H area; and Yang Kui |gf (1760-1804) set his
steps on the Qinghai-Tibetan "WW, plateau.92 This development not only reflected the
consistent popularity of certain scenic spots, such as West Lake in Hangzhou, but also the
geographical expansion of the Qing dynasty to the border areas.
The spirit of self-expression that started in the late Ming continued to be
developed by the Qing poets, such as Yuan Mei MM. (1716-1797), one of the most

90

Yuan Hongdao, "Xu Xiaoxiu sWliMM^sf M, in Yuan Zhonglangquanji M^BR^kM,

Jialuo WiM%& (Taibei: Shijie shuju, 1964), 5.
Li, Zhongguo gudaijiyou, 360.

92

Li, Zhongguo gudaijiyou, 451, 472-89.

33

comp. Yang

influential poets in the eighteenth century. As the leader of the Xingling '1411 School, 93
he advocated spiritual freedom and a strong sense of "self." Traveling that bore such
characteristics naturally became one of his many hobbies: "I am fond of good food,
beautiful women, renovating cottages, traveling, friends, bamboo, flowers, spring and
stones" fcpljfc, Pfe, MMM,

MM,

M ,

ttfft&M^94

Yuan Mei accepted many

female disciples who learned writing poetry from him. He even met one of his favorite
disciples Jin Yi j&& (1770-1794) during his 1792 trip to Tiger Hill in Suzhou W'M95
However, a male literatus having female disciples was considered crossing the gender
border and for this he was severely criticized by his contemporaries:
Yuan Jianzhai [Yuan Mei] from Qiantang compiled six juan of the Poetry
Collection of the Female Disciples from the Garden of Leisure which includes
twenty-eight members, and this collection is included in his Poetry Criticism from
the Garden of Leisure. His action, however, was not tolerated by his
contemporaries. Liu Wenqing (zi Gongyong) who was from Zhucheng [in
modern Shandong] and the District Magistrate of Jiangning at the time, planned to
arrest and punish Yuan Mei. Although later Yuan Mei asked to be exempt from
punishment, he dared not live in Jiangning for long. For a long time after, he
traveled away in the name of visiting mountains to avoid other people's
criticism,...

mmM.nM*m&m itm-k^m
ft, um&tiLA&M,
93

Am, H-+AA,

MA mmm

96

Wang Yingzhi Z E ^ / S , Yuan Mei jiXinglingpai

chubanshe, 2000).

shizhuan MM.MHS.MMM

(Changchun: Jilin renmin

94

Yuan, "Suo hao xuanjV'Bxtff-ftd^Xiaocangshanfangxu

wenji 'bfelkfeMJCM,
29.1a, in
Xiaocangshanfang shiwen ji ^ ^ l l l ^ f j f 3cM., vol. 4 (Taibei: Taiwan Zhonghua shuju, 1965).
95

Wang Yingzhi, Suiyuan xingling ffiH'|4S (Nanjing: Dongnan daxue chubanshe, 2004), 59-60.

96

Liu Shengmu f [ JvK "Er nu dizi shi," in Changchu Zhai suibi K / S j H M i l , sibi H ^ (Beijing:
Zhonghua shuju, 1998), 9.857.

34

Interestingly enough, when Yuan Mei was under heavy criticism for having female
disciples, travel helped him to escape censure.
In fact, travel was essential for Yuan Mei's poetics and poetry writing. He often
collected good poems and sought talented poets while he was traveling:
I have traveled for a long time. Whenever I obtained someone's good poems, I
would definitely copy them by hand. When I passed Anqing [in Anhui province],
I saw the Head Prison Guardian Xu Jian'an's own poem on his fan: "I just used
my small salary to finance a tall building, /1 love my relaxing job position which
gives me the leisure to plant flowers." When I arrived at Huanggong's tavern in
the Plum Blossom Village, I saw Prefect Chen Xingzhai's poem: "Even today, the
Huanggong wine is produced, / Still, the flowers described in Du Mu's poem
continue to blossom."97At the Kaixian Temple at Mount Lu [Jiangxi province], I
saw Cheng Jushan's couplet: "Inside the trees, the moonlight just revealed its
shadow, / the mist in the mountain did not show its layers." At the Mount Xiaogu,
there is Yu Chushan's couplet: "After entering the temple, I vaguely felt it was
raining, / For the whole night I only felt cold."

&mtiK, nx&ft, f e o um&m, %nmtmm)mnm^: mic

wmjii&m, gfrMffiffi. mn&m&]ffi, M>m%%x^M*:
P

-Was

"98

Travel not only provoked the poet's creativity, but also promoted literary contact between
poets. For such contacts, the poets did not necessarily have to meet in person, but
communicated through poetic works delivered by media such as fans or the walls of a
building during one's travel.

97

There was a tavern owned by a person named Huang in Chizhou Jtkj'H, Anhui province. The late-Tang
poet Du Mu wrote a poem entitled "Qingming"V# Bj (The day of mourning for the dead) at the Plum
Blossom Village that made the place known. See the Chinese original and the English translation in Xu,
Song of the Immortals, 138, 376. Mount Xiaogu is located in modern Susong f i j ^ , Anhui province.
Yuan, Suiyuan shihua, 12.13b, in Suiyuan quanji, vol. 5.

35

Woyou: A Matter of Choice and Taste

When literati men were unable to leave home to travel, woyou became a handy
alternative. The term woyou $hM. was coined by a famous painter Zong Bing ^M (375443):

He [Zong Bing] loved mountains and waterways, and delighted in excursions to

faraway places. In the west he made his halting place Mount Lu in Jingzhou and
on the south he climbed up Mount Heng. There he made himself a hut in the hope
of following the example of the hermit [Shang] Ziping; but instead fell ill and had
to return to Jiangling. He said with a sigh: "I am old and ailing: I fear that I can
no longer wander among famous mountains. Now I can purify my heart by
contemplating the Tao, and do my roaming from my bed." All that he had visited
he depicted in his chamber.

MM, gMo w^mm, m&mm, ^ifoj, M ^ f t s . WM

ft

ir'SIIzLTp'ilo

I0

Due to illness in his late years, Zong Bing was only able to travel through his own
paintings based on his actual journeys in youth. Woyou was the alternative for him since
he could no longer physically go on a long journey. In Zong Bing's well-known
theoretical essay on landscape paintings, the earliest theoretical statement in Chinese on
landscape painting,101 he elaborated on the importance of purifying the heart to change
the landscape in a painting into a real journey in nature: "Thus I live at leisure, regulating
my vital breath brandishing the wine cup, and sounding the lute. As I unscroll paintings
There are various English translations for the term woyou: Dorothy Ko translated it as vicarious or
armchair travel, see her Teachers; Richard E. Strassberg translated it as recumbent travel, see Strassberg,
trans, and annotator, Inscribed Landscapes: Travel Writing from Imperial China (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1994), 27. In my dissertation, I will mostly keep the pinyin "woyou" as this term conveys
unique Chinese literary tradition. However, I will use these existing English translations alternatively when
applicable.
100

Shen Yue ?f$J (441-513), Songshu * H (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2000), 93.1517-18. See Alexander
Soper's English translation quoted in Bush, "Tsung Ping's Essay," 137.
101

Zong, "Hua shanshui xu"!l ill 7Kff, in Zhongguo meixue zhongyao wenben tiyao 41 SI i t ^
g , ed. Wang Zhenfu 3LM@L, vol. 1 (Chengdu: Sichuan renmin chubanshe, 2003), 215-18.

36

JLH^C^SI

and face them in solitude, while seated I plumb the ends of the earth...." S ^ ^ M S S

*, mmm^, mmmm, mmm, ^f^^mzm, nmM\zm

T0

purify one's heart is to ultimately free one's spirit inspired by Confucian, Daoist and
Buddhist perspectives. 103 The tight connection between mind and woyou determines its
heavy reliance on imagination which can best function with a free spirit. With
imagination, literati could also enjoy mythical places only described in books and
pictures right at home as Tao Qian $$M (365-427) vividly described in his poem "Du
Shanghaijing"W(]M'M$t (Reading the Classic ofMountains and Seas):

I browse in the record of the King of Zhou;

I glance over the pictures of Hills and Seas.
In a single look I exhaust the universe;
If here I were not happy, what should I do?

Woyou shortens the distance, reduces the danger, and establishes a purified self-identity
and an intellectual community with great minds, which inspire generations of literati.
As an enthusiastic traveler to off the beaten paths,105 the Song poet Fan Chengda
wrote:
Entering E'mei Mountain for the First Time
102

Bush, "Tsung Ping's Essay,"145.

103

Ibid., 134.

104

From Tao Yuanming's poem entitled "Du Shanhai jing"fj[ll|#|M, in Yang Yong ^J, annotator, Tao
Yuanmingjijiaojian PSj^PJftfiill (Hong Kong: Wuxing ji shuju, 1971), 4. 233. The English translation
is from A. R. Davis, T'ao Yiian-ming (AD 365-427): His Works and Their Meaning (London: Cambridge
University Press, 1983), 154.
105

See Cong Zhang, "The Culture of Travel."

37

My "bad" habit of indulging in mountains and rivers does not need to be cured,
On this journey, I am not sure how far I will travel.
I climbed to Shangqing Temple and faced Damian Mountain,
Then following Li Bai, I visited E'mei Mountain.
Today I become familiar with the predestined affinity of the mountains,
Since ancient times, people have been fascinated with fame.
I would draw a painting to hang on my wall after returning home,
Some other year, I will want to travel again while lying at home.

Fan Chengda was widely traveled, and in 1170, representing the Southern Song court, he
went to the enemy country Jin ^ as an ambassador. After this long journey, he wrote the
well-known sets of jueju M'RJ (quartrains) poems about this trip. 107 However, he was
criticized by another minister for this mission and was forced to leave the central court,
traveling to different posts all over the country. The abovementioned poem was written
when he visited E'mei ttlli Mountain, a Daoist sacred mountain, in Sichuan 0 ) \ \
province. In this poem, Fan Chengda uses the notion of woyou to express his love for
mountain views and, more importantly, the pure spirit in the mountains. For him
recumbent travel was a good strategy for re-purifying his mind while struggling in
complicated politics.
*
106

In Fan, Shihu Jushi.lS. 256-57. Shangqing refers to the Shangqing Temple at the top of Qingcheng WM
Mountain, a Daoist sacred mountain, in Sichuan province. Damian refers to Damian Mountain nearby. See
Fan Chengda's travel diary "Wuchuan l u " ^ ) | p l $ , in James M. Hargett, Riding the River Home: A
Complete and Annotated Translation of Fan Chengda's (1120-1193) Diary of a Boat Trip to Wu (Wuchuan
lu) (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2008). Also see Hargett, On the Road in Twelfth Century
China: The Travel Diaries of Fan Chengda (1126-1193) (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden Gmbh,
1989).
107

See the seventy-two quatrains in Fan, Shihu Jushi, 12.145-58.

38

Not long before his death, Fan Chengda's contemporary Lii Zuqian Sfflai
(1137-1181), a learned scholar in historiography, classics, philosophy and literature, and
a strong proponentof resisting the Jin, compiled previous literati's travel writings into a
book entitled the Woyou EjAJHii(Records of woyou) which includes forty-one literati's
travel stories from previous dynasties.108 In Wang Shenyuan's 3LMM (fl. 13l -cen.)
preface, he claimed that the significance of the book was not just to record celebrities'
travels for travel lovers to enjoy, but to show Lii Zuqian's deep emotion for the fallen
Southern Song dynasty:
...Recently I recorded newly-offered official titles. Sallow or prosperous, his
nature suddenly jumped in front of my eyes. If he can be alive for another ten
years, Chongfu at Mount Song, Taiji in Yanzhou and Yuntai at Mount Hua will
be available for recumbent travels. Considering this, Master Lii's concerns for the
declining dynasty never left his mind even for one day, and accompanying this
feeling, his intention for woyou appears even more profound.

&mmm,mMMMt)tm&B<, m^A-^m,
nxmrn^*

wmzmtM, nwzx

Putting Lii Zuqian's real intention for compiling this collection aside, it is equally
worth exploring why the Ming compilers were so interested in this Song text. The text
was rediscovered and compiled by Chen Meigong l^/a-^- (1558-1639) whose original
name was Chen Jiru I^UKSf, zi ffiW, a native of Huating ip 3 ^ (modern Shanghai) and a
well-known hermit110 at the end of the Ming. At the age of twenty-nine, he burned his

108
Lii, Woyou lu kM&, in Baibu congshujicheng W nPl!llrft,E$i, comp. Yan Yiping itffl
Yiwen yinshuguan, 1964-1968).
9

(Taibei:

See the preface in Lii, Woyou lu.

For the hermit, there are two Chinese terms used for Chen Jiru: zhengshi/zhengjun tiEi/HEH or shanren
li| A , and the two terms can have opposite connotations, reflecting two different images of Chen Jiru in
literati's mind in the Ming-Qing period. See Wu Chengxue %$.^
and Li Bin $ M , "Ming-Qing ren

39

Confucian-style clothes and became a hermit in the mountains, devoting himself to

writing and compiling. He was extremely fond of travel and compiling travel literature
was his hobby.111 In fact, in the minds of Ming-Qing literati (before the reign of Emperor
Qianlong, r. 1736-1795), Chen Jiru was considered a respectable mingshi ^idr (famous
gentleman). The concept of mingshi originally comes from Liu Yiqing's SlJitJI (403444) Shishuo xinyu ttf$t)f f (A new account of tales of the world):
A famous gentleman {mingshi) doesn't necessarily have to possess remarkable
talent. Merely let a man be perpetually idle and a heavy drinker, and whoever has
read the poem, "Encountering Sorrow" (Lisao), can then be called a "famous
gentleman."

Since the Song dynasty, the concept of mingshi has been defined more specifically; a
mingshi was not only known for his knowledge, but his savoir vivre.

113

As Craig Clunas

points out, the late Ming witnessed a passionate interest in pleasure.] 14 The
recompilation of the Records ofWoyou reflected Chen Jim's playful taste in literature,
scholarship and traveling.

yanzhong de Chen Meigong"H|VH A B S ' t S t l l ^ i l ' ^ , Shoujie Mingdai wenxue guoji yantaohui lunwenji If
SmttlC^m^MM^MiXM,
ed. He Yongkang ^7%M and Chen Shulu K i t (Nanjing: Nanjing
shifan daxue chubanshe, 2004), 368-80.
' " W u and Li, "Ming-Qing ren,"368-380. Zhang Dejian ' H S H , "Moshi de mingshi fengduChen Jiru
c h u y i " * 1 f l : f t j J l f i M M ^ W S . , Zhongzhou xuekan t W W f l J 1 (2006): 224-27.
112

"Rendan" ft IS, in Liu Yiqing, Shishuo xinyu jiaojian tttf&if 151x11, comp. Xu Zhen'e # H i
(Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1984), 410. The English translation is from Richard B. Mather, trans., Shihshuo Hsin-yii: A New Account of Tales of the World, 2" ed. (Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies,
University of Michigan, 2002), 421.
113

Wu and Li, "Ming Qing ren," 369.

114

Craig Clunas, Superfluous Things: Material Culture and Social Status in Early Modern China
(Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press), 2004.

40

In the development of literati's use of woyou, the term also expanded from the
personal to the community level: cultivating friendship.
Painting for Zixin
My friend Zhang Zixin loves traveling but often falls ill. He loves friends but has
few. Having been ill for several years, he never steps out. Since he has no
interaction with people, he takes woyou as his only pleasure. For this reason, he is
particularly fond of me and my paintings. Every two days, I will surely send
someone to ask about his health, and every five or ten days, I will visit him in
person. Each time when I visit, Zixin will always prepare some paper, white silk,
brush and an ink stone for me to paint. My scrolls have filled his baskets and
cases, but he still continues to ask for more. Once one painting is done, he will
pace back and forth to appreciate it, as if this could fulfill his life. Even more,
whenever he sees another person own a painting of mine, he will hate not to own
it too. Because of this, many times he has asked for my paintings. His obsession
is just like this. In one autumn month, I planned to go to Wulin [Hangzhou] and
Zixin gave me a silk scroll, saying: "You will travel on the West Lake, wandering
between the six bridges and two hills. I cannot go with you and will lose you
temporarily. I would be honored if I could obtain a painting about your travels so
that this can compensate for missing my own travel and our conversations. How
about that?" Listening, I became sad and could not bear rejecting him. I know
that after I return, Zixin will ask me to show him more about my travels, but how
can I say no? I know I will not be able to refuse his requests unless my wrist
breaks. I record this feeling for fun at the Mid-Autumn Festival in the year of
1623.

&, mmmMmo M t i i ^ f , xmrnn^zm. &mR&-mm,

115

Li Liufang, Tanyuan ji W.MM, in Wenyuange SikuJibuMffl,

41

biejiftlM, 12.9a/b, 12.10a.

This essay was written by the Ming writer and painter Li Liufang ^'JnlJ^ (1575-1629)
who was fond of traveling and especially known for painting landscapes. These hobbies
and skills were of great help to his friend Zhang Zixin who also liked traveling but could
not due to illness. Li Liufang visited West Lake in Hangzhou several times and painted
the scenic spots, which were turned into a painting collection entitled "Xihu woyou ce"
iSSllEA.iSlffiKA collection for appreciating West Lake views at home).

u6

Zhang Zixin's appreciation of his paintings and friendship further motivated Li

Liufang's artistic creativity:
Last year, I made three sets of paintings drawn on Korean silk. One volume went
to Shushi, one went to Zixin, and the last one was left in a case. On a cool day in
the seventh month, in front of Zixin's window, the jasmine flowers with red
leaves were extraordinary. I went to appreciate them several times in a row. My
artistic mind was stimulated by much wine and then leaning against the table, I
took out some volumes of paper to paint. I finished ten paintings but did not have
time to attach some words. This year, in his illness, Zixin wrote to me for my
words. Because of the hot summer days, to avoid sweating too much, I was too
lazy to get close to brush and ink stone, and so left the painting alone on the shelf.
Eventually one day when I tried to find it, it was already lost. Thinking that Zixin
loved my paintings so much and depended on it to comfort himself, I dared not
tell him about the missing painting. I did a good search for ten days but failed to
find it. But the painting in my own case was still there. I stayed up at night to
paint another one for Zixin under the lamplight. This painting was better than the
spontaneous and rough one I quickly drew earlier at Zixin's home. This painting
imitated several masters, and although it was not exactly the same, the style and
spirit were not far from the predecessors. More than just recovering the old
painting, this new work was even better. If this painting could cure Zixin, he
would jump up and pour wine for me so that we could appreciate the red jasmines
at the eastern room. I wrote this on the eleventh day of the seventh month of 1622.

116

Li, zi Changheng HSf, hao Pao An 'MM or Shenyujushi t H ^ S i , was a native of Jiading Mfe
(present-day Shanghai _h#l). Li is famous for his landscape paintings. For some of his extant landscape
paintings, see Wang Nanping I f f i J P , comp., Ming Qing shuhua xuanji H|JH M l S f t (Hong Kong:
Nanhua yinshua youxian gongsi, ca. 1975), 56-57. Also see Li, Li Liufang shanshui huace $ $ l t J7 (Jj 7KIt
ffi (Da fo si yi zui lou, n.d., ca.1920).

42

mu^Zo xm-i-B^m, mm^mm^^ mLnmmfc, mzm^m

M^mmMM, ^ f f w t . jkMfi^m. m^mnmM, mwmmm
As Martin W. Huang argues, starting from the sixteenth century literati paid more
and more attention to the pleasure of travel and its social function of making friends.

would further Huang's argument that woyou took another step and expanded the pleasure
of travel, enhancing the possibilities of friendship and making such a cultivation even
more focused on intellectual exchanges and spiritual appreciation. In the seventeenth
century, before Wang Yunzhang's BLftM journey, his friend Liu Shiqi f 'Jdb itf wrote a
letter to him, suggesting that he write down his travel experiences so that later Liu Shiqi
could travel in his mind.119 Another literatus, Gu Cheng U S , wrote to his friend, asking
him to paint based on his journeys so that Gu Cheng himself could imagine the
landscapes through the paintings.
Woyou not only inspired communication with contemporary friends, but also
made it possible to connect with the literati tradition, linkingthe place to the historical
figures. Qian Wanli H H i S (fl. 17th-c), a native of Songjiang %kL, wrote a poem
entitled "Chibi woyou"6\:gg^JS (Recumbent tour of Red Cliff):
The white dew is overwhelming in autumn,
On thousands of acres of waves floats a boat.
117i

Ti hua wei Zixin"M.MM:?W\, in Li, Tanyuanji, 12.4a/b, 12.5a.

118
Huang, "Male Friendship and Jiangxue (Philosophical Debates) in Sixteenth-Century China," Nan Nil:
Men, Women and Gender in China 9, no. 1(2007): 149-54.
119

Wang Qi ffi# (b. 1604), Chidu xinyu guangbian Rf&ffiWMtiH (1668), 6.17/18.

120

Wang Qi, Chidu xinyu er Man XfiSlPffSiH (1667), 18.9/10.

43

Alone, rhythmically drumming the side of the boat

I wake up from my lonely dream,
I should have remembered my Huangzhou trip in my previous life.

In 1080, the Song poet Su Shi was banished to Huangzhou ]8r J'H (in present-day Hubei M
it province). During the exile, he widely travelled around Huangzhou, including a place
called Red Cliff. Mistakenly taking it as the site of the famous battle between Zhou Yu
JWJffjf (175-210) and Cao Cao during the Three Kingdom period, he wrote one ci poem
and two rhapsodies about it.

In fact, there are two sites called Red Cliff in Hubei, and

the battlefield was not the one Su Shi visited. His mistake of confusing the scenic spots,
however, made the Red Cliff in Huangzhou a famous place which has since then been
called Wen Chibi~3C$f^$k(Literary Red Cliff) in order to distinguish it from the real
battle site Wu Chibi i^^M(Military Red Cliff). In this interesting case, travel poetry
generated a discrepancy between the historical site and the literary site conceived of by
Su Shi, yet this discrepancy created a second famous place that symbolizes a literary
heritage. The poet Qian Wanli probably never visited either Red Cliff. However, through
reading Su Shi's poems or appreciating a painting, he claimed to have become the
incarnation of Su Shi who experienced the Huangzhou journey in the eleventh century
and the battle back in 208. In this case, the idea of Red Cliff not only conveys a tone of
nostalgia, but represents Qian Wanli's admiration for Su Shi and his poetic achievement.

' Shen Jiyou W:^3x. (ca. 1654-1699), Zuili shixi #|^B$i?, in Wenyuange Sikujibu,

122

m, 29.31a.

See Robert E. Hegel, "The Sights and Sounds of Red Cliffs: On Reading Su Shi," Chinese Literature:
Essays, Articles, Reviews (CLEAR) 20 (1998): 11-30.

44

This mental travel that crosses time and space consequently embodies the literati's
spiritual ideal.
Political frustration could also cause one to avoid traveling in front of a spiritual
ideal:
Once outside the door I can see good streams and mountains,
But I smile at a landscape painting instead.
Perhaps on the official journeys, my feet have become tired,
The detachment always exists in the act of woyou.

M & S I f . itffitHSEUiW.123
Here the poet Cheng Minzheng ^St&iUC (1445-1500) even enhances the status of
vicarious journey above actual travel because official travel did not lend itself to
relaxation or pleasure. His preference for woyou here does not emphasize the notion
itself; instead, he stresses an ideal of life: shaking off the tedious official hardships on the
road and returning to the relaxing and enlightening hermitage. Keenly catching this
literati officials' need, which was quite vogue in the Ming-Qing period, the painter Cheng
Zhengkui fMlES! (1604-1676) completed the 'Woyou Painting of Mountains and River"
("Jiangshan woyou t u " l l l l | ^ j ^ ^ | i l ) :
Those who lived in Chang'an have three difficulties: no mountains or rivers to
visit, no calligraphy or paintings to buy, no private collections to borrow. For this
reason, I plan to draw this "Woyou Painting of Mountains and Rivers" in several
hundreds of juan to circulate, hoping to save all the men on horseback from their
sufferings.

Jg-fBciNTH^,

MOJTKWITC,

MM^SS,

MHBH,

&08fcft <XL\h

123

"Ti Zhizheng Ying Wenzhen dianbao s h a n s h u r l f g U l i jt$-#ll|7.k, in Cheng Minzheng MWiWl,

Huangdun wenji HLM.3CM, Wenyuange Siku, bieji, 88.7b, 88.8a.
124

It is uncertain how many paintings of woyou Cheng Zhengkui finished before his death, it is possible,
however, he completed as many as five hundred. See Yang Xin ^ f , Cheng Zhengkui f l l E S (Shanghai:

45

Gentlemen on horseback refer to officials who rode horses to their posts, but had little
time to enjoy the mountains and rivers. In fact, Cheng Zhengkui even went so far to
arrange most of his landscape paintings under the title "Woyou." His obsession with the
notion of woyou started from his intention of relieving stress from his official
responsibilities, yet it was transformed into an artistic resistance against late Ming chaos
when wars ruined his style of painting actual landscape. This time, he used woyou in a
different way: purposefully rejecting the authentic landscape and constructing a
landscape Utopia to balance his loss in social chaos:
...Yet when the wars continue, there is a sharp contrast between today and
yesterday. Looking up at the mountains and rivers and the city walls (inner and
outer), everything has turned to something different. The grass is covered with
mist, and I feel extremely sorrowful. I have nowhere to express my mind, and can
only stamp my feet. As a result, I have begun to compile a collection entitled A
Recumbent Journey to the Mountains and Rivers. [With this collection,] though
the world is boundless, I can still view it at once. The landscape is as what it
always was; the memory remains the same; the height and width of Heaven and
Earth and the social in/stability become oblivious. Compared to this, how limited
the past and the present of my life and the scope of King Mu's land to the
remotest end appear!

m&'Xmm, ^mu \ki\mm, mw&m, t'&#&. WM

sis, axmm,tiLjLmr.\um&m.x&mm, -H^TM, J U S ^ , &
Emm, >%\%i&zMjf, xmzmi, it^z-^^-, H A S - M M

Shanghai renmin meishu chubanshe, 1982), 19-23. Also see Wang Qi D T I , "Cheng Zhengkui 'Jiangshan
woyou tu' juan" g j E g t fflllEydSH *&, Zijincheng j&^ifli, 3 (1994): 44-46.
125

Quoted in Yang, Cheng Zhengkui, 20-22. In the Ming-Qing period, there were other works that helped
readers travel vicariously with written records and matching paintings which included Linqing's !$jj|
(1791-1846), Hongxue yinyuan tuji 'M ft HJIcHI204 picture book of predestined memory) (Shanghai:
Tongwen shuju, 1886). Linqing was the son of the famous woman anthologist, poet and scholar Yun Zhu
ffft (1771-1833). Also see Huang Jing's MWi (fl. the second half of the 19th c.) Zhuangyou tuji fttMffl
IS (A picture book of my unrestrained travels) (Shanghai: Dian shi zhai, 1896). This seems to represent a
trend in late imperial China of portraying the landscape paintings for recording one's journeys.

46

When a viewer/reader observes a landscape painting or reads a text, he will often

write a poem based on this woyou experience. Such poems are called tihua shi WLHtlf
(poems inscribed on paintings) or duhou shi K f ^ s f (poems written after reading).

In

the male tradition, the poems on paintings started from Du Fu who wrote poems on
nineteen different paintings, some of which were landscapes; this tradition was later
reinforced and developed by the two Song poets Su Shi and Huang Tingjian ]8cMM
(1045-1105) who together left about two hundred tihua poems.127 Su Shi was an
especially outstanding poet in the genre of poetry based on landscape paintings. In
analyzing Su Shi's poem "Written on a Painting of the Misty Yangzi and Serried Hills,
Owned by Wang Dingguo"("Shu Wang Dingguo suocang yanjiang diezhang tu"iSi3E/iI
ISBfU'MtCfii^lll). Ronald C. Egan argues that the painting sparked Su Shi's personal
memory of his exile in Huangzhou. Therefore his poetic description of the landscape was
a combination of the original painting on a certain place in Jiangsu or Zhejiang area and
his personal interpretation of the Huangzhou landscape.128 This is a perfect example of
how woyou encourages the poet to start writing and enrich his poetic image based on a
painting.
Similarly, poets are often inspired by a written text on travel. Bai Juyi &MMi
(772-846) wrote a poem after reading Xie Lingyun's poem on landscape:

126
I call these kinds of poems duhou shi. The tihua poems or duhou poems can be on any topic in the
paintings or reading materials, but here I particularly refer to those relevant to my topic of travel.
127
Ronald C. Egan, "Poems on Paintings: Su Shih and Huang T ing-chien," Harvard Journal ofAsiatic
Studies 43, no.2 (1983): 413-51.
128

Ibid., 428-30.

47

Reading Xie Lingyun's Poem

I heard that the path of an extraordinary man,
Smooth or not, depends on his luck.
If smooth, he will come to the court,
If uneven, he will return to all corners of the country.
Master Xie's talent was profound and broad,
Which could match with his world.
Since his ambition accumulated but had nowhere to go,
He needed a way out.
He devoted his ambition to the poetry of mountains and rivers,
His poems are full of floating elegance and unusual pleasure.
Its broadness includes the sky and the sea,
Its small details never omit grass and trees.
How could it be just for playing with the views?
The true intention was to express a pure mind.
Often while talking about a particular case,
He did not forget xing and hi skills of poetry.
We need to know that the essence of Kangle's writings
Far surpasses the lines and stanzas.

Bai Juyi suggests that the landscape that Xie Lingyun indulged himself in is only a tool
for him to release political frustration. In fact, Xie Lingyun's poem is also a tool for
serving Bai Juyi's real purpose of advocating his literary view: "A essay should be
written to fit the times, and a song should be composed for current affairs"^t$'n"MNpM

129

Quart Tangshi, vol. 7, 430.4752.

48

^f W^Wii^W-W f^.130 No matter it is atf&waor duhou poem, the meaning of the

landscape always goes beyond itself and is utilized by the viewer and reader in their new
poem in which the images inspired by the painting or text are greatly personalized and
often politicized.

Youxian Poetry: Roaming as a Transcendent

Roaming as a transcendent is a form of imagined travel in a space beyond the
human world, and youxian ilHlIj poetry (poetry on roaming as a transcendent) has a long
history in Chinese literature. Perhaps it is because this type of poetry addresses a
universal yearning to bridge the human and transcendent worlds. Generally speaking,
there are two basic types of youxian shi: those that use the language and the world of the
transcendents to comment on emotions felt in the human world, and those that express an
aspiration to visit the world of the transcendents, or to become a transcendent oneself. No
matter whether the titles contain the term youxian, as long as the content matches the
abovementioned criteria, that poem can be categorized as a youxian poem.

Youxian

poetry had a tight connection in early thought with the fantastic journeys exemplified in
Qu Yuan's works. Qu Yuan's masterpiece "Encountering Sorrow," mentioned earlier in
this chapter is a good example. As Sun Changwu ^ HIE argues, starting from this poem,
roaming in the immortal world represents the free spirit of Chinese literati:

130

Bai, "Yu Yuanjiu shu" i^TcAUr, in BaiJuyi shiwen xuanzhu SJIr Jal^Jtifiii, compiled and
annotated by Gong Kechang ft j ^ l l and Peng Chongguang g^liTte (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe,
1984), 179.
131

Wang Yousheng JL'MM, "Xian Tang wenren de youxian jingshen lun'^JftiAfft^llllttttfra, Yuwen
xuekan S3t#f0 1(1998): 4.

49

Roaming in the sky, described in Qu Yuan's "Encountering Sorrow,"

embodies an awakening of the consciousness of life and a rather strong
vision of the universe
The "I" who freely flies in the sky and on earth
will transcend time and space towards all directions. This spirit is
precisely the conscious and direct reflection of the human mind, and is also
a protest against the restrictive Confucian rules. The desire for the
heavenly world is a call for individual freedom. 132
Therefore, from the very beginning, youxian poetry was not only about an unattainable
search for immortality, but about literati's response to the reality.
Youxian poetry became popular during the third century.133 To many poets,
traveling to the immortal world is a way to achieve immortality that cannot be attained in
the frustrating reality. This immortality does not only refer to one's life span, but to the
poet's spiritual and intellectual immortality. In his "Lunwen" fmfjt (A discourse on
literature), the first Chinese essay in literary theory, Cao Pi 1135 (187-226) stresses that a
writer will die eventually, but his works will live forever.

134

The first poem written with "Youxian" as the title was composed by Cao Zhi W t t
(192-232): 135
Human life does not reach a hundred,
Year after year there is a little joy!
I long to soar with six-feathered wings,
132
Sun, Shiyuan xianzong: shigeyu shenxian xinyang If ^I'flilKE: IfffcJSItt'flilfH'ffp (Tianjin: Nankai daxue
chubanshe, 2005), 89.
133

Stephen Owen argues that youxian poems in this period can be roughly divided into two kinds: "The
first focuses on the acquisition of a drug (the elixir of immortality), or less commonly, techniques or Daoist
mysteries. The core of the second sub-theme is the old 'heavenly journey'." Owen also argues that whether
the protagonist drinks the elixir or just travels to heaven, both achieve immortality. See Owen, The Making
of Early Chinese Classical Poetry (Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Asia Center, 2006),
141.
Wang, Zhongguo meixue, 133-36. Also see Owen, Readings in Chinese Literary Thought, 68.
135

In fact, in Yiwen leiju 1SXWM, Cao Pi's "Zhe yangliu xing" #tfWtt
is also called "Youxian shi." If
this counts, Cao Pi should be the first person who composed a poem entitled "Youxian." See Owen's
discussion of Cao Pi's poem in his book Making of Early Chinese Classical Poetry, 147-48.

50

To cleave the mists and transcend the vermilion void.

A cicada sheds its skin: I shall be as Song and Qiao.
With a flutter I ascend from Tripod Lake,
Glide and drift above the Ninth Heaven.
I spur myself on to distant spaces:
Eastward to view the glittering Fusang tree,
Westward to overlook the Limpid Water current,
Northward stopping at the Dark Heaven Isle,
Southward in winged ascent up Cinnabar Hill!

" ^ 'gjb- ~> " - H33

-Hh *3P Ifc^ i k b cfe

mmxA, mmmtm*
itm-gum, wmnft&.136
The poem fully demonstrates the characteristics of youxian poetry where the mundane
travel moves to another space: the immortal world. However, even traveling as a
transcendent, the traveler still uses a human mind; it is exactly this interaction between
the mundane and the transcendent that gives this form the uniqueness of crossing the
border. The human speaker is concerned about his short life span and imagines flying up
to Heaven for a solution. He freely roams in every direction in this new space and no
answer is provided. Maybe because no answer is really in need, the "roaming" itself is
much more important. Several scholars, including Burton Watson, Stephen Owen and
Julian Ward conclude that the character you ail conveys a strong sense of freedom and
purposelessness.

Roaming as a transcendent strengthens the purposelessness of you.

On the other hand, expressing the spirit of freedom and a different way of life is
itself a purpose, which is precisely why this genre has attracted poets throughout the eras.
13

Liu and Lo, Sunflower Splendor, 48.

137

Burton Watson, trans., The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu (New York: Columbia University Press,
1968), 6; Owen, Readings in Chinese Literary Thought, 203; Ward, Xu Xiake, 98.

51

To trace the important figures in the history of this genre, the Qing writer Li E's (16921752) preface to his three hundred youxian poems provides a good outline:
From Guo Jingchun of the Jin dynasty to Cao Yaobin in the Tang and Ma Hesong
in the Ming, literati all wrote numerous beautiful youxian poems that deserve our
reading. I live in leisure with little joy, occasionally linking rhymes with which I
have composed one hundred poems. The main ideas of these poems include my
roaming thoughts, dreamy words and miscellaneous emotions. Master Yuming
[Tang Xianzu ^ H ^ J . , 1550-1617], said that although the matter might not exist,
how do we know the emotions about it do not exist? Besides, when Qu Yuan
composed the Lisao, he devoted his feelings into the images of Lord in the Clouds
and Goddesss of Xiang, who did not misinterpret the author's intention. Some
warm-hearted people have published my poems. Although they may not appear
delicate, please just take them as something fresh to read. I myself, Fanxie
Shanren, wrote this in the sixth month of Emperor Kangxi's reign in 1710.

miibm&mmf&mz,

MWHX,

wmm, sums, ^m^rn. f

Although the history of youxian poetry is certainly more complicated than these
few major figures, the framework in Li E's self-preface gives us an idea about how the
Qing literati perceived this poetic tradition. It is especially significant in my attempt to
extend the scholarly attention of the youxian poetic tradition from the pre-Tang and Tang
to the Ming-Qing period.

139

As commonly perceived, Li E also traces the origin of

youxian poetry back to Qu Yuan's works. In literary history, Guo Pu MM (276-324) and
Cao Tan If Jf (7977-866?) were considered two of the most productive and creative
writers of this genre. Ma Hesong was a Ming poet who is said to have written many such

138

Li, Fanxie shanfangji wai shi ^^Mlh^M^ht$,juan

J%ikMi (Taibei: Taiwan zhonghua shuju, 1965).
139

shang _L, la, in Fanxie shanfang quanji H$iflll

Currently scholarly studies almost always focus on the Tang or pre-Tang periods.

52

poems, but I have found no information on him. Li E himself wrote as many as three
hundred youxian poems.
Guo Pu, zi Jingchun jft&ti, came from Wenxi H H (in present-day Shanxi lilH
province). His representative works are fourteen youxian poems, seven of which are
collected in the early anthology Selections of Refined Literature.

Being a representative

writer of this genre often gives a negative impression that the poet was a passive figure in
life according to Confucian ideology.142 However, by quoting Zhang Pu 3d $f(16021641), Zhong Laiyin #-5fc@ argues that even according to Confucian thought, Guo Pu
was not a passive figure who only admired the immortals, but a scholar who involved
himself in the mundane world and chose death in the face of crisis. 143 In this case, Guo
Pu inherited Qu Yuan's spirit in that they both focused on roaming as a transcendent and
tried to act like one in spirit, but their true concern was the hope of achievement in the
mundane world. Lian Zhenbiao MWkWk argues that the major contribution of Guo Pu to
the development of youxian poetry was that he combined the hermitage on earth and
transcendence in the immortal world, which made "immortality" more approachable. In
140

The first one hundred are entitled "One Hundred Songs on Roaming as a Transcendent"iU'f[IjlEf tjc, the
second one hundred are entitled "A Sequel to 'One Hundred Songs on Roaming as a Transcendent'" MM
-flllWI^, and the third one hundred are entitled "A Second Sequel to 'One Hundred Songs on Roaming as a
Trancendenf"WW&itil'Bwk.
141

Guo Pu's poems are also famous for their refined language style. Liu Xie even argues that "Guo Pu
being enticingly out of the ordinary deserved to be regarded as the champion of the mid-age revival; ..." M
Mlfe&, 3LM^^,
in Wong, Lo, and Lam, 176.
142

"The subjects on which the Master did not talk, wereextraordinary things, feats of strength, disorder,
and spiritual beings"-? ^ f p t i ^ i i l f f , in the section of "Shu'er" sfijfi] of the Lunyu U l n . See Confucian
Analects, in The Chinese Classics (with a translation, critical and exegetical notes, prolegomena, and
copious indexes), by James Legge, vol. 1 (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1960), 201. For a
case in which Confucius avoids answering questions about spirits and death, see 240-41.
143

Zhong, Zhonggu xiandao shijinghua ^~&%MM%nW

81.

53

(Nanjing: Jiangsu wenyi chubanshe, 1994), 180-

his poems, human frustration on earth instead of physical immortality is the major
concern.144 Li Fengmao $ 1 1 W points out that Guo Pu introduced the image of dixian iik
{[I] (immortals on earth)145 into the genre and combined this concept of dixian with the
concept of hermitage so that transcendents are more approachable compared to the old
tradition of youxian poems. 146 In brief, Guo Pu contributed to the genre by connecting
immortality closely with human situations and feelings.
Cao Tang, zi Yaobin MJC, came from Guilin t # , Guangxi jf| H province. The
record of Cao Tang's life is scarce, and existing records are mostly anecdotal. Just as his
Daoist background and favorite youxian poetry, his life has remained mysterious and
unattainable. He became a Daoist in his youth, but returned to the mundane world later
where he spent the rest of his life as a minor official. His path in life was different from
the more popular one: experiencing officialdom first and then becoming a wanderer or
hermit, attached to certain religions. In this case, Cao Tang's life experience bears similar
characteristics to the dixian tradition established by Guo Pu in that Cao Tang wanted to
somehow connect himself to the mundane while keeping his mind on transcendence. He
"wrote the most poems on roaming transcendents among the Tang poets, and he was also
the champion among all the poets since the Six Dynasties." 147 Cao Tang's major

144

Lian, Guo Puyanjiu MWM%

145

Dixian refers to transcendents who live on earth, or hermits who enjoy a care-free life.

(Shanghai: Shanghai sanlian shudian, 2002), 230, 298.

146
Li, Youyu you: Liuchao Sui Tangyouxianshi lunji ftJSjg: / ^ j p f JjtJiHlIjIvFfi&ll (Taibei: Xuesheng
shuju, 1996), 118-19.
147

Ibid., 169.

54

contributions are his works "Da youxian" j^M{\l\ (fifty poems)

148

and "Xiao youxian" 4s

Milh (ninety-eight poems) in two sets. 149 "Da youxian" (Greater poems on roaming as a
transcendent) and "Xiao youxian" (Smaller poems on roaming as a transcendent) serve as
the general title for each set, and every poem under the general title is written in the form
of qilu -fcW- (eight-line regulated poems with seven characters per line) while the latter is
written in the qijue -fcM (quatrains with seven characters per line). The length of each
poem might be what the characters da (greater) and xiao (smaller) refer to. In the "Da
youxian" poems, Cao Tang elaborates on various stories of transcendents, including
romantic stories between transcendents and humans. Li Fengmao argues that the charm
of such romantic tales fulfills Cao Tang's purpose of expressing the emotions of sadness
at separation and happiness at union.150 The outstanding characteristic of Cao Tang's
"Smaller Poems on Roaming as a Transcendent" lies in that the subject "I" is hidden
behind the transcendent roaming in the immortal world, which requires readers to figure
out the "self through the transcendents' images. 151 Cheng Qianfan ^ S i ^ t t concludes
that various human emotions are the center of Cao Tang's youxian poems. 152

148

According to Xin Wenfang's ~%B (fl. 1300), Tang Caizizhuan B^1?W

(Beijing: Zhonghua shuji,
1965), 8.142-43, there are 50 poems but the evidence for saying so is unknown.

149

According to Ji Yougong t r W ^ (jinshi, 1121), Tangshi jishi Ml&ISM- (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju,
1965), vol. 2, 58. 890-91, Cao Tang wrote more than 100 youxian poems, and according to the Quan Tang
shi.juan 641, Cao Tang wrote 98 poems entitled "Xiao youxian." See Edward H. Schafer, Mirages on the
Sea of Time: The Taoist Poetry ofTs 'ao T'ang (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985), 32.
150

Li, You yu you, 136.

151

Ibid, 192-93.

152

Cheng, "Guo Jingchun Cao Yaobin 'Youxian shi' bianyi"|(Sf;^> W M K iWA\Wt)l

W$^,'mGushi
kaosuo " S l t S ^ , Cheng Qianfan quanji IS^PIfL^:^, vol.8 (Shijiazhuang: Hebei jiaoyu chubanshe, 2001),
422-23.

55

Li E, zi Taihong %M or Xiongfei MM, and hao Fanxie W&, the author of the
preface on youxian poetry mentioned above, came from Qiantang H $ t , Zhejiang S f t t
province. As the leader of the Zhe school of poetry in the early Qing, Li E inherited the
tradition of Song poetry which focuses on displaying allusions and explaining
theories. 153 As a devoted writer, Li E produced a collection of works entitled Fanxie
shanfangji

ft$|f l i l ^ f t (A collection from Fanxie's Studio) which contains twentyjuan.

Poems on roaming as a transcendent are a significant part which counts for three juan,
with altogether three hundred poems.
A second sequel to "One Hundred Songs on Wandering Immortals" with A
Preface
I once wrote two hundred poems on wandering immortals, in two collections.
The former one hundred poems have been carved and printed. I did not
hide my inadequacy and just loved doing it like crazy. I hid the latter one
hundred in a box and did not show them to others. One day in my leisure, I
unfolded them and regretted that the style was still too mundane, and I had
not fully displayed the immortals' spirit. Therefore I purposefully tried to
exhaust all sources and swore to shake off the stereotypes, and thus I
composed one hundred more poems. In the past, Xie Yi composed three
hundred poems on butterflies and then was called Xie the Butterfly. If
anyone knows about me now, wouldn't they call me Li the Roaming
Transcendent?

a^itiiimm-w-f * mmm^mm, r^nm, tmmm* &mm&

*, * ^ A . msmzt, Mpamimmm^m, mmMmn, t i t
WJ-JM? l54
These three hundred poems are written in heptasyllabic quatrains which has been a
popular form used since the Tang.155 The large number of Li E's poems represents his
153

Kojiro, Introduction to Sung Poetry.

154

Li, Fanxie shanfangji wai shijuan

xia, la, in Fanxie

56

shanfangji.

passion in writing such poems, and also appears to aim at beating the record created by
Cao Tang who wrote more than one hundred poems of this kind. From the perspectives
of number and form, Li E inherited the Tang tradition. However, more importantly to
him, writing this many poems reflected his personal poetic obsession which, especially
because he "purposefully tried to exhaust all sources and swore to shake off the
stereotypes," matches his identity as an advocate of Song poetry. As one of his major
contributions, Li E compiled Songshi jishi ^WS^LM-

(Records about Song poetry) which

includes 3,812 Song poets' works and commentaries.

Xie Hudie (Xie the Butterfly), mentioned in Li E's preface, refers to Xie Yi (10661113), a member of the Jiangxi tLM poetry school of the Northern Song. The Jiangxi
school started in the latter part of the Northern Song when the literary circle witnessed a
poetic prosperity. With many other schools rising in this period, the Jiangxi school stood
out as the most influential. Its leader Huang Tingjian took the making of poetry as a
scholarly endeavor by paying a great deal of attention to rhymes and diction besides
content. Many contemporary literati took this attention to formulaic rules as the right way
to learn the art of poetry, and therefore the Jiangxi school expanded quickly to as many as
twenty-five members under Huang Tingjian. Xie Yi indulged himself as a hermit and
was famous for writing as many as three hundred poems on butterflies, which earned him
the nickname Xie the Butterfly.

157

Li E tried to imitate Xie Yi by composing three

155

"Since the Tang, the youxian poems have been mostly composed in the form of quatrains. ..."WfW-M.i'M
If S J t A l i l * # ^ y @ ' R j . ChenHongshouHSlIf (fl. 18th -a), "Ji wai shi yin" i t ^ I H I , la, in
Fanxieshanfang quanji, vol. 2.
Li E et al., comps., Songshi jishi ^ 5 | f ^ B ^ (Taibei: Taiwan shangwu yinshuguan, 1968).
157

Wei Qingzhi MM~Z-, Shiren yuxie I t A3E/H, in Wenyuange siku, shiwenpinglei I # 3 t l f M, 10.22a/b.

57

hundred poems on roaming as a transcendent. This imitation can be considered as Li E's

declaration of following the Song poetic tradition established by the Jiangxi school to
1 S8

leave his own name in the history of writing youxian poems.

The images in Li E's three hundred poems are rich, aiming at unfolding a wellrounded picture of the immortal world, such as the gods and goddesses, the immortal
stories, the immortals' life and diet, etc. Therefore, Li E was striving to stand out by
providing the widest vision of the immortal world in addition to the quantity of three
hundred poems. As indicated in the last poem of the series, he wrote himself into the
poetic history of roaming immortals:
When the phoenix carriage returns from the sea,
A blue bird sends the message to announce what it knows.
I have three hundred poems on roaming immortals,
So I do not need to repeatedly sing the song of riding the wind.

Li E states that writing three hundred poems on wandering immortals gives him the
privilege to be an immortala literary immortal without the need for other qualifications.
And the reality seems to echo Li E's own prediction since according to the note of Chen
Hongshou $ | $ i l p from Li E's hometown (Qiantang, Zhejiang province), one of the
reasons that other people tried to preserve and circulate Li E's youxian poems was that he
wrote so many on the topic.
*

158
What is interesting is both Xie Yi and Li E enjoyed traveling and wrote many poems on the scenic spots
they visited.
159

Li, "Zai xu youxian baiyong," "Ji wan shi, xia" ^ ^ h l t ( T ) , 8b-9a, in Fanxieshanfang quanji.

160

Chen, "Ji wai shi yin."

58

In this chapter, I have provided a brief history of poetry on travel in the male
tradition, covering the poems on actual journeys taken and imagined journeys, including
woyou and youxian poetry. This chapter will serve as a reference for my discussions in
the rest of the dissertation. In Chapter Two, I will explore how women poets constructed
the theme of travel and discuss some of the similarities and differences between male and
female poets in relation to travel and the representations of travel.

59

Chapter T w o W o m e n ' s Poetry on Travel: M a j o r Types and Major

Issues
Women, Travel and Poetry before Late Imperial China
In early Chinese poetry, it is almost always the man who is depicted as being a
traveler on the road, while the woman waits patiently at home. For example, "My Lord
Is on Service" H"-f S^fic, a poem in the Book of Songs, was written from a wife's
perspective:
My lord is on service;
He did not know for how long.
Oh, when will he come?
The fowls are roosting in their holes,
Another day is ending,
The sheep and cows are coming down.
My lord is on service;
How can I not be sad?
My lord is on service;
Not a matter of days, nor months.
Oh, when will he be here again?
The fowls are roosting on their perches,
Another day is ending,
The sheep and cows have all come down.
My lord is on service;
Were I but sure that he gets drink and food!

m=?w&, * B * J I161. -g^wfs? mm^m, BZ&%, # ^ T & .

m^m, % M o

161

-'Shying, Wang feng, Junzi yuyi"l#Mifi- MTW&,

translation is from Waley, Book of Songs, 57-58.

60

see Zhou, Shijingyizhu, 96-97. The English

In this poem, the woman is clearly not traveling herself, and she can only imagine the
hardships of travel, such as the hunger and thirst that her husband might experience on
his journey. While the birds and beasts are all returning home to roost, the husband is yet
to return home to her, and so she can do little more than wait. Not surprisingly, we find
the same idea expressed in what is sometimes considered to be the first poem by a
woman author, Tushan Mlil^C, entitled "Song of Waiting" ("Houren ge"fl^Afft) which
consists of a single line: "Ah, I am waiting for h i m ' ^ A ^ ^ .

162

Later, when women started to travel, family needs, national circumstances, or

social classes became the occasions for writing. Ban Zhao (ca.48-ca.l 18), the daughter of
Ban Biao (the author of "Rhapsody on on a Journey to the North")

I63

composed

"Rhapsody on a Journey to the Easf'in which she describes her journey with her son who
was going to take up an official post. Although the rhapsody is mainly about teaching
her son to follow the ancient sages for moral cultivation, it also reflects Ban Zhao's own
personal experiences during the journey:

I then lifted my foot and climbed into the carriage

And that night we lodged in the town of Yanshi.
Leaving our friends there, we headed for strangers,
My mind was disturbed and my heart full of grief.
We continued on our journey and forged ahead,
I allowed my eyes to roam, my spirits to soar.
Passing through seven towns I gazed at the sights,
Then we negotiated the dangers of Gong.

162
Ban Youshu SESilr, Zhongguo niixing shige cuibian "f H i c t t f t l K f t S (Beijing: Zhongguo wenlian
chuban gongsi, 1996), 2.
163

For more details of Ban Biao's "Beizheng fu," see Chap. 1.

61

nmmmt^, wmsmi
164

As the companion to her son, Ban Zhao played a secondary role in this journey which is
primarily the story of her son's official advancement; yet being able to step outside and
see the world enabled her to observe the outside world, at first involuntarily, but
eventually willingly.
Lady Xu Mu f a l l ' s (b. ca. 6 l -c. BC) journey was not for pleasure, but in
response to a national crisis:
I would have galloped my horses and whipt them,
Returning to condole with the marquis of Wei.
I would have urged them all the long way,
Till I arrived at Cao.
A great officer has gone, over the hills and through the rivers;
But my heart is full of sorrow.
I will ascend that mound with the steep side,
And gather the mother-of-pearl lilies.
I might, as a woman, have many thoughts,
But every one of them was practicable.
The people of Xu blame me,
But they are all childish and hasty [in their conclusions].

164

Wilt L. Idema and Beata Grant, The Red Brush: Writing Women of Imperial China (Cambridge, MA and
London: Harvard University Asia Center, 2004), 23-24. For the translation of the whole poem, see 23-26.

62

165

Lady Xu Mu, a native of the state of Wei %, was married to the king of the state
of Xu t%. When she heard that Wei was threatened with an invasion by Di armies, she
went in her carriage to the stronger state of Qi to ask for assistance. The real focus of this
poem is not on women and travel, but national pride and military strategy.
Cai Yan MM (ca.200), zi Wenji ~XM, the daughter of the famous literatus Cai
Yong H H (132-192) of the Eastern Han, was abducted by the Southern Xiongnu fa}$L to
become the wife of the Second Commander she was only allowed to return to her home
twelve years later:166
At the end of the Han, the court lost its power
And Dong Zhuo upset the natural order.
At his ambition was to kill the emperor,
His first did away with the wise and good.
The border wilds are different from China,
And their people's custom lack propriety.
The places where they live are full of snow,
And the Hun winds rise in summer and spring,
Tugging at my robes in all directions,
And filling my ears with their wailing sounds.
Moved by my seasons, I recalled my parents,
And my sad laments went on without end.
Whenever guests would arrive from afar,
That news would always give me great joy.
But when I sought them out for tidings,
They would never turn out to be from my home.
Then out of the blue my constant wish was granted,
As relatives showed up to take me home.
So finally I was able to make my escape,
But at the cost of abandoning my sons!
165

"Shijing, Yongfeng, Zaichi"!#fe- J S S ' f t i f t , In Zhou, Shijingyizhu, 75-78. The translation is from
James Legge, The Chinese Classics (with a translation, critical and exegetical notes, prolegomena, and
copious indexes), vol. 4, The She King, 2" ed. with minor text corrections and a Table of Concordance
(Taibei: Jinxue shuju, 1966), 87-88.
166

Idema and Grant, Red Brush, 118.

63

M f l , #fc#ifflB.
E?#H&,

nm.m%j-o

167

This poem provides a detailed description of the border area, its scenery and its customs.
The rustic scenes strengthen the strangeness and fearfulness of the Xiongnu minority. In
Can Yan's case, travel carried the additional negative meaning of personal hardship and
national indignity.
The Tang (618-907) women's traveling experience well demonstrated the
connection between travel and class. During the Tang, women from the lower as well as
the upper classes all travelled to some degree. Courtesans and nuns travelled for pleasure
and self-cultivation. Xue Tao MW (7707-832), Li Ye ^vft (?-784) and Yu Xuanji #,"2"
H (844-955) were three eminent women poets of this period. Xue Tao, zi Hongdu WkBt,
was born to a minor official's family in Chang'an. She traveled with her father to his
new post in Chengdu, Sichuan at a very young age. In order to support her indigent
167

Idema and Grant, Red Brush, 114-18. The most well-known writings attributed to Cai Yan include
"Poetry of Grief and Indignation" ("Beifen shi"Sttf$) and "Eighteenth Stanzas for the Barbarian Reed
Pipe" ("Hujia shiba pai"j]fn~h Aft) both of which are about her abduction by the Southern Xiongnu
during the social chaos at the end of the Han dynasty. For the critical studies of her life and poems, see Guo
Moruo MW%, "Tan Cai Wenji de 'Hujia shiba pai'" ISIIlWetfliSgfH-Aft, and Liu Dajie W1XU,
"Guanyu Cai Yan de 'Hujia shiba pai'," |lfl^|lB#Jr$$B+Aft, rpt, in Zhang Hongsheng < I ^ and
Zhang Yan 3SJff, comps., Gudai nushiren yanjiu "fii'ft jfcHf AW ^(Wuhan: Hubei jiaoyu chubanshe, 2002),
263-86. Also see Hans H. Frankel, "Cai Yan and the Poems Attributed to Her," Chinese Literature: Essays,
Articles, Reviews (CLEAR), 5, no. 1/2 (1983): 133-56.

64

family after her father's death, Xue Tao became a courtesan who specialized in
composing poems for the local government. As a courtesan, she met and exchanged
poems with many accomplished poets such as Yuan Zhen and Bai Juyi, or powerful
officials such as Military Commissioners Wu Yuanheng ^7^^(758-815) and Wei Gao
i^$?L (A. late 8' -a).

However, being associated with the military commissioners could

be dangerous. In 789, Xue Tao was banished to the frontier area for offending
Commissioner Wei Gao, and so came about her poem on the soldiers' hard life in the
frontier:
To Commissioner Wei: My Thoughts at the Frontier for Punishment
I had heard about the sufferings of the border,
But only after coming here do I know them.
Full of shame I now sing my festive songs
For our boys who serve over here in Long.

MHTtt, mmmm&.

In fact, Xue Tao's trip to the frontier provoked her to write several more poems, and
among the only eight known Tang women's poems about the frontier, her poems count
for five.170

168

It is said that in 808, Wu Yuanheng requested the court to offer her the official title jiaoshu lang U l i | I
(Collator of Books). In the Tang, it was an appointment for men of great literary promise, considered the
starting point for excellent careers. Many men who passed the jinshi examination were made collators in
the imperial library as their first official appointment.
169

Zhang Pengzhou ^M^,

Xue Tao shijian if^flrflg (Chengdu: Sichuan renmin chubanshe, 1983), 4.
The English translation is from Idema and Grant, Red Brush, 183-84. The title was not translated in the
Red Brush, so this translation is mine.
170

Zhang Huijuan 3 I l i # i , "Tangdai nushiren y a n j i u ' ^ ^ ^ c l f A f f i , M.A. thesis (Zhongguo wenhua

xueyuan yanjiusuo, 1978), 155. The other four poems concerning the frontier are "Choubian lou"^iift^,
"Fa fubian youhuai shang Wei X i a n g g o n g " S J i t i 4 ^ ' f $ # ^ | ^ , "Fa fubian shang Wu Xianggong"Sfi

65

The Tang was a great time not only for poetry; Daoism and Buddhism also
flourished partially due to imperial patronage and support. Daoism was especially
welcomed by women, including many members of the court and of the royal family. One
benefit of becoming a Daoist nun was that it allowed women to enjoy a greater freedom
to socialize with male literati, and therefore Su Xuelin M-Mffi calls Tang female Daoists
"half courtesans."171 Li Ye and Yu Xuanji were such female Daoists with extraordinary
poetic talent. Despite the various anecdotes of their courtesan-like private lives,

their

poetic talent and personal ambitions were widely recognized. Upon hearing of Li Ye's
poetic talent, Emperor Dezong {IITK (r. 780-805) 173 summoned her to visit the capital.
At the time, Li Ye was visiting Guangling iff I t (modern Yangzhou). Upon leaving the
capital of Chang'an, she wrote the following poem:
Upon Receiving the Imperial Command, I Say Goodbye to My Old Friends in
Guangling
I thought I was old with no talent but frequent illness,
But to my surprise, my humble reputation reached the emperor.
Looking up to Heaven, I flick the dirt off my hat and put it on my grey
JS-hS^ffi^ (two poems under the same title). According to Zhang Pengzhou, the four poems on the
banishment were all presented to Minister Duke Wei (Wei xianggong, Wei Gao), see Zhang, Xue Tao
shijian, 4, 14-15, 35-36.
171

It is widely suspected that their true life was not ruled by monastic restrictions at all, so they were in fact
courtesans in the name of female Daoists. Tan Zhengbi SPlElt, Zhongguo ntixing wenxueshi ^ H H ^ t t J t
^ i , repr. (Jinan: Baihua wenyi chubanshe, 2001), 131. Also see Xu Youfu 1&WH, "Nil daoshi" ^ c i t ,
in Tangdaifunu shenghuoyu shi Jiff^W^^ViljSlff (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2005), 219-31.
Xin, Tang caizi zhuan, 2.26-28. Also see Jeanne Kelly, trans., "The Poetess Yii Hsiian-chi," in
Traditional Chinese Stories: Themes and Variations, ed. Y. W. Ma and Joseph S. M. Lau (Boston: Cheng
and Tsui Company, 1996), 305-06.
173

There is a debate about the time of Li Ye's trip. According to Tan Zhengbi who followed the Tang caizi
zhuan, it was Xuanzong (r. 712-756) who invited Li Ye, however, Chen Wenhua M^SC^ argues that Li
Ye's trip to the capital took place no earlier than the years of 766 to 779, and Su Zhecong agrees with Chen.
See Su, "Niizhong shihao Li Ye" iH'PMtt^Kn,
in Su, ed., Zhongguo lidai cainti
^MM.R't'k,
vol.1 (Zhengzhou: Henan renmin chubanshe, 1996), 202.

66

hair,
Shamed, I wipe my dusty mirror and rearrange my old appearance.
My heart travels to the northern palace to follow the fragrant plants,
I gaze at the Southern Mountain m to seek the old peak.
Osmanthus trees cannot detain the hermit,
Once a seagull leaves water's edge, you may not see it again.

In this poem, Li Ye positions herself as a recently-recognized old male literatus. The

osmanthus refers to the hermit's dwelling where osmanthus trees are often planted. Li
compares herself to a determined seagull who decides to leave the hermitage and fly to
the palace in the capital without return. In other words, Li not only imagines her trip to
the palace as a literatus' path to a successful career, but also points out the tension
between her Daoist eremitic identity and Confucian officialdom.
If Li Ye pretended to be a male hermit called from his seclusion to service, Yu
Xuanji made no attempts to disguise her (thwarted) ambition to take the exams and
become as famous as any of her male counterparts.
During a Visit to the Southern Tower of the Veneration of the Truth
Monastery I Saw the New Examination Graduates Writing Their Names on the Wall

174

The South Mountain refers to Mount Zhongnan $$f. There is a term, "the shortcut for officialdom at
Mount Zhongnan" SffiStfS which refers to a story in the Tang dynasty. Lu Zangyong SMlffl once
engaged in hermitage at Mount Zhongnan with political ambitions. When the emperor heard of his
eremitic reputation, he was appointed to the post of the Right Minister. A famous Daoist Sima Chengzhen
W J S ^ M (647-735) despised Lu's political intention of using hermitage as a shortcut for officialdom. See
"Lu Zangyong" SMfR, Liezhuan # J # , 48, in Song Qi SjcflS (998-1061) and Ouyang Xiu HfcliH#(10071072), comps, Xin Tangshu f U H (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2000), 123.3457-58.
175

Chen Wenhua, Meng wei hudieye xunhuaLi Ye, Xue Tao, Yu Xuanji shi zhuping 1? J | 4 J 5 ^ i i l # ? E
^ ? F N f$F, &.~gW.W&s (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2007), 13.

67

Cloudy peaks fill one's eyes under a clear spring sky:

Clearly legible "silver hooks" emerge from their fingers.
Oh how I hate this gauze gown for hiding my verses!
To no avail I look up with envy at the names on the list.

Yu Xuanji wished she were a male student who could go to the capital for the national
exam! Both Li Ye and Yu Xuanji were audacious concerning recognition compared to
other women of their time. The amazing similarity between Li and Yu in identifying
themselves with male literati officials discloses the rising desire for literary and political
achievement among women. Their mingling with male literati and officials facilitated by
their freer social mobility as Daoist nuns certainly nourished this untraditional idea.
The most "powerful women of the Tang," however, were the female Emperor Wu
Zetian E f J ^ (624-705) and her assistant Shangguan Wan'er t ^ a 5 & (664-710). 177
Emperor Wu Zetian was the only female emperor in Chinese history. She started off as
the consort for Emperor Gaozong itf^; (r. 650-683). In 683, she accompanied Gaozong
to the Fengtian Temple # ^ H and other sacred spots at Songshan M ill and visited the
Shaolin 4>tff- Temple on the way: "Accompanying my Emperor, I tour the restricted
garden, / Granted this favor to leave the fragrant chambers"!^ i t S ^ l t l # I f Hi M

Quan Tang shi, 804.9050. The translation is from Idema and Grant, Red Brush, 194-95.
177

Tang Tuanjie JifBI&p, "Shangguan Wan'er shengping kaoshu"Jl'a'M52.^ 5 P^'Xl, Henanjiaoyu

xueyuan xuebao (zhexue shehui kexue ban) MlfifcW^K^NS (W*7#f4#}i) 23, no.5 (2004): 34-38.

68

[Mj.

Having experienced various palace struggles, in 690 she finally decided to take the

throne as the de facto ruler. The Quart Tang shi (Completed poetry of the Tang) includes
fifty-eight poems by Wu Zetian; most of these, however, are concerned with various
royal duties within the palace. In some of the poems, however, we get a glimpse of the
anticipation with which she prepared for an excursion outside the palace:
Proclaiming an Imperial Visit to the Shanglin Park on the Eighth Day of the
Twelfth Month
On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the second year of the Tianshou
reign [691], some officials intended to deceive me into visiting the Shanglin Park
by announcing that flowers were already in bloom there. In fact, they were
planning a conspiracy. I agreed to their invitation but soon after suspected their
scheme. Thus, I dispatched a messenger to release this proclamation. The next
morning the Shanglin Park was suddenly filled with the blossoming of wellknown flowers. The officials all sighed over this unusual phenomenon.
Tomorrow morning I will make an outing to Shanglin Park,
With urgent haste I inform the spring:
Flowers must open their petals overnight,
Don't wait for the morning wind to blow!

nmmm^* M^ft, M&mj\mm

JBfifS3Lh2S

mmmM,

* # & L i79

ttmmLR, nft&m.

In this poem, Wu Zetian was no longer in the secondary role of accompanying her
husband; instead, as the ruler, she felt powerful enough to even order nature to fulfill her

Quart Tang shi, 5.59. Translated by Hui-shu Lee, in Kang-i Sun Chang and Haun Saussy, Women
Writers of Traditional China: An Anthology of Poetry and Criticism (Stanford: Stanford University Press,
1999), 47.
179

Quan Tang shi, 5.60. Also see Ji, Tang shijishi, 3.24. The poem is translated by Hui-shu Lee, in Chang
and Saussy, Women Writers, 48-49.

69

command. On the other hand, as a consequence of her elevated political status, her trip
also involved life-threatening political danger.
Shangguan was often Wu's ghostwriter for important documents. Her literary
contribution was no less than her political influence. In his article, "The Formation of the
Tang Estate Poem," Stephen Owen credits Shangguan with contributing significantly to
this particular poetic genre, which focused on writing about private estates. As visiting a
private estate to temporarily live like a recluse became a fashion among courtiers in the
Tang, Shangguan also "self-fashioned" herself into this role and enjoyed herself as a
recluse (fangkuang H$E, wild and free) without revealing her gender and palace
identities.

Without her close association with the royal family, however, she would not

have had the opportunity to visit Princess Changning's H ^ private estate in 710 in the
first place, and thus would have had no possibility of writing twenty-five poems about the
estate.

181

Wu Zetian and Shangguan Wan'er's travels were tightly connected to their

status as members of the ruling class. As they moved towards the center of politics, their
mobility increased correspondingly.
Tang women's feelings about and perceptions of their own journeys were much
more varied than that of their predecessors who mainly focused on the hardships on the
road. Journeys for the Tang women were often associated with social status and mobility
based on this status. The courtesan or Daoist poets had more mobility within their circle,
and palace women had access to see and could compose poems on sites that represented
social privileges, such as private estates and the sacred mountains for royal rituals.
180

Owen, "The Formation," 39-59.

181
"You Changning gongzhu liubei chi ershiwu shou"$!-^&jJil$F?&""hilt. See Quart Tang shi,
5.63-65.

70

While some women were fortunate enough to leave the home for travel, the
majority of elite women in pre-modern China were supposed to be confined to their
homes. For this reason, the traditions of recumbent travel and roaming as a transcendent
created by male literati became especially significant as a way of acquiring poetic if not
physical mobility. Using the concept of recumbent travel, the Yuan woman poet Zheng
Yunduan Mjtvffi (1327-1356) projected her desire for travel onto the landscape painted
on a folding screen:
Song of a Landscape Painting of a Folding Screen
I am the owner of a roll of fine white silk from the east,
Upon which are painted the many mountains of Jiangnan:
The brushwork is by no means inferior to that of Li Qingqiu,
While the composition far surpasses that of Yang Didan.
Fine craftsman and skilled artisans are not easily found,
But this painting has been most impressively laid out:
Rows of mountains and layered cliffs converge then open,
Strange-shaped rocks and majestic pines rise face to face.
A wooden bridge and thatched cottage at the forest's edge,
Waterfalls and cascades crash and peal like thunder:
It is as if I were sitting at the foot of Mount Lu,
Suddenly I feel completely cleansed of worldly dust.
This body of mine has already grown old in the inner quarters,
I resent not having the chance to go out in search of the hidden.
Stockings of linen and black shoes have ruined my life
Facing this painting I'm filled with a helpless frustration!

LU 7kmm

jgasacu

.m

71

 * $ ! , HfM&ti8.

182

Roaming as a transcendent183 was another genre Zheng Yunduan utilizes to

challenge her immobility because of gender and illness. Long tortured by illness, Zheng
Yunduan imagines herself to be a banished immortal in her poem "Expressing My
Emotions" ("Xie huai"l|tJ?).184 Sometimes she communicates with a female
transcendent in her dreams in order to realize her dream of flying to Heaven, such as in
the poem entitled "Record of a Dream" ("Ji meng"&fill).185 Zheng's frustration about
reality and desire for more space beyond a woman's boudoir also has something to do
with her disharmonious relationship with her husband whose intellectual level was far
below hers, and could not share her literary pleasure. 186 She wrote poems to entertain
herself and relieve her stress from the problematic marriage. However, whether through
recumbent travel or roaming as a transcendent, it was not until late imperial China that a

182
Zheng, "Suyongji"Stit^fc, m Siku quanshu cunmu congshu H t f ^ l r l t ^ ij Wtti.jibu, Mof> (Jinan: Qilu
shushe, 1997), 1.1a, 23.236. The translation is from Idema and Grant, Red Brush, 271-72.
183

Xie Daoyun a!|fjltll(fl. 4,h-c.) wrote a poem entitled "Pine" which could be considered ayouxian poem:
"I look at that pine tree yonder on the hill:/The coldest winter cannot make it wither ./How I long to go there
and rest beneath it,/Where I can gaze forever at its branches./I jump up, but find I cannot soar in flight,/
Stamping my feet I wait for Wang Ziqiao./But time, alas, has never been on my side,/And I am swept along
by Transformation." See Idema and Grant, Red Brush, 141-42. Although this is a poem imitating the great
poet Ji Kang's ^ J S (223-262) poem with the same title, considering the female identity of Xie Daoyun, a
gendered interpretation can be interesting. The lyrical speaker gazes at the pine which symbolizes a goal
she wants to reach at the top of the hill through the little window of her boudoir. Yet no matter how hard
she tries, she can never reach it, which vividly describes the dilemma of women who were confined to the
inner quarters and could never escape. The pine also symbolizes immortality which is a desirable and but
unattainable wish.
184

Zheng, Suyong ji, 241. See Idema and Grant, Red Brush, 275.

185

Zheng, Suyong ji, 239. See Idema and Grant, Red Brush, 275-76.

186

See Zheng's biographies by Zhong Xing M H (1574-1624), Mingyuan shigui &WMB (ca.1620),
23.3a , http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/mingqing/english/; Lu Chang H j (fl. 18 th -c), Lichao mingyuan shici
MMn&WL%%W\ (1772), 9.20b, 9.21a; and Zhao Shijie ffittt* (fl. 17 th -c), Gujin nu shi S^-kg.
(16281644), 78a.

72

large number of such poems by women appeared, which I will discuss in detail in
Chapters Three and Four.

Ming-Qing Women Poets and Travel

Thanks to fairly recent scholarship in the field of women's writings in late
imperial China, many primary materials have become available, which makes it possible
to study women's poems on travel in this extraordinary period of increasing mobility and
women's literature. Next I will discuss major types of poems by women and major issues
involved in these poetic representations.
1. Sigui Poems (Travels to Women's Natal Families)
Zhong Huiling defines sigui shi S I S Mas those poems on married women's
longing for their own parents and relatives. 187 The category of sigui poetry depicts a
unique journey conducted or desired by married women. Chinese society had different
expectations of sons and daughters regardingmobility. After a son or daughter grew up,
they had to leave the natal family, but for different reasons: "A traveling man's ambition
lies in the four corners of the world, / Whereas a married daughter has to leave her natal
home" Ml-MMJ].

Witt&MWL.

A man leaves home to fulfill his personal ambition

of learning, taking examinations and searching for jobs, which in turn would bring glory
back to his family. As for a woman, once she was married, she usually went to live with
the husband's family. Therefore the different expectations about mobility are tightly

187

Zhong, "Nttzi youxing,"127-69. Grace S. Fong also discusses gaining J ^ poetry by women in her
book Herself an Author, 28-30. Here I use Zhong's definition because I want to cover both actual trips
back to the natal home and thoughts about it.
188

Wang Lanpei IBHH, (Qing dyn.), "Siqin ganfu"JgiiSSt quoted from Zhong, ""Nttzi youxing,"159.

73

connected to the contrasting expectations of family responsibilities: earning glory for his
natal family (men) and serving her husband's family (women). Often, the reason that men
were unable to return home was precisely because of having no glory to bring home:
Thinking of my old parents, I am happy and afraid at the same time,
When will I finish my long journey and report to them my return date?
Being a capital official, I haven't obtained the purple belt,
My ten years in Beijing only whitened their black hair.

189

Although feeling the pain of leaving their old parents unattended in person, male travelers
could at least have their wives fulfill the filial piety. A woman's journey away, on the
other hand, meant long periods of separation from her natal family, especially when
transportation and tradition did not allow her to go back to visit frequently. Unable to
travel back to her natal family to take care of her old parents reinforced the image of
women's inability to fulfill their filial duties towards them. Namely it was useless to have
a daughter:
I sigh for having long been separated from my parents,
I don't know when I can return to them.
Last night I saw them in my dream,
Just as I was overbidding them farewell.

189

Purple belt was the decoration for the officials who held high positions. Zeng Yong ^ H c (fl. mid-19*c ) , "Si qin"@U, in Zuo Xijia &WoM (1831-1896), Lengyunxianguan shigao ^i*HlI]8Itff| (1891), 14a.
190

Sun Yutian S I ffl (fl. lS^-c.), "Si qin," in Yun Zhu 'If ft (1771-1833), Guochao guixiu zhengshiji
fWfl3fiE#jil(Hongxiangguan, 1831), 19.21a.

74

Women who married into families from the same city or area were relatively
more fortunate. Xi Peilan f$JM,M (1762-ca. 1820) 191and her husband's families, for
example, were both in Zhaowen 03t, Jiangsu (modern Changshu ^W>), which meant
she could visit her natal family for ten days each month:
I recall when I was newly married,
I would cry day and night because of homesickness.
I returned home ten days every month,
To actively spend time with my mother.

'mmnmm, sassac^.
192

However, even women like Xi Peilan sometimes had to leave their families and
follow their husbands when they were appointed to office elsewhere. In 1782, Xi Peilan
had to accompany her husband's family to her father-in-law's official residence in
Shangdang _hjf| (modern Changzhi -U^ff, Shanxi).193 The following poem reflects her
concern about the distance that would separate her from her natal family:
How can I bear the sudden long journey?
For a thousand li, autumn wind chases us.
The boat and the horse take me a long distance,
River after river, mountain after mountain.

194

191

See my discussion on Xi in Chap. 3.

192

Zhong, "Nuzi youxing,"136.

193

On the other hand, this trip in 1782 meant Xi's reunion with her husband who went to present-day
Shenyang yfrRI in 1799. Separation from her family, either her natal family or her husband, was a dilemma
for Xi Peilan. See David Hawkes, Hsi P 'ei-lan, Asia Major, n.s., 7 (1959): 116.
194

Xi, "Jiang zhi Shangdang guibie ci qin"

1.6a/b.

ffi2.MBftffiM,

75

in Changzhengeji # X W * (1891),

Similar to Xi Peilan, Dai Yongfan f t ^ H (Qing dyn.) had to accompany her husband to
Yongnian x k ^ (in present-day Hebei province) for his post, leaving her family behind in
the capital:
With the thousand // distance, I miss my parents in my dreams,
Over the long night, I tossed and turned, unable to sleep well.
What connects us is only the moon at edge of sky,
It sheds light half on the capital and half on Yongnian.

Sr?uJi, *^*. 195

The sadness over their inability to return to their natal home can be found in the
poetry of many women from this period. Yun Xiang WM (fl- early 19th-c.) wrote a set of
three poems entitled "Siqin qu"/S|@[B] (Songs of missing my relatives). 196 To express
her homesickness, she stretched the distance: "It is as if you and I were separated in Earth
and Heaven, / Two fish swim on an endless trip in the vast waters"!!HA^fif Pll>
MM.M.7KMM-

The two fish refer to a pair of fish-shaped wooden boards between

which letters are placed to be sent. Therefore a pair of fish refers to letters. In this poem,
long distance is first compared to the endless distance between the mundane and the
immortal, and then even letters cannot reach the end because of the vast waters. The
space covered in these two lines expands from up to the sky and down to the water,

"Qiu ye Yongnian guaxie si qin"fC^7l<'&SSS, Yun, Zhengshiji, 7.23b.

YunZhu, Guochao guixiu zhengshixuji MW4^iE$.MM

76

(1836), 10.24b, 10.25a.

symbolizing an uncontrollable situation: neither the woman nor the letters can overcome
the distance to reach her family.
Returning home to visit was not, however, the only type of journey that these
women poets longed to take. In another poem, for example, Yun Xiang writes about her
cousin's youxue M^

(travel for learning):

He traveled and wrote widely everywhere in the world,

In each place, he paused his carriage to study.
In shabby clothes, he discusses Confucian classics to transcend the ordinary,
Educate my nephew into someone who can bring fame to the family.
This line is about my cousin Jianting.

mmmmm, mfc^mnw* ii^#*^197o

In this poem, Yun Xiang depicts her cousin Jianting's study trip and predicts the bright
future Jianting's son could possibly bring to the family if provided a good education.
Such a depiction of a male family member's educational journey as a benefit to the whole
family reveals Yun Xiang's desire for traveling like a man: she desires the path of filial
piety to bring glory to her family. Here her desire for travel transcends the theme of
visiting her family in a regular sigui poem. Yun Xiang's poem contains a subtle
comparison between herself and her cousin that reveals her gender anxiety, but in the
following poem by Lady Li, this anxiety is explicitly revealed through a comparison
between herself and a bird:
Autumn wind brushes the threshold and the atmosphere is dense,
Sitting alone by the red window my thoughts turn deep.
Even crows know to return the favor of their parents,
I regret that in this life, I've fallen short of even a
bird!

197

Ibid., 10.25b.

77

JJ!fnM, ^ M ^ 3 n #

,98

Prevalent in women's sigui poems, the image of wuniao (crow) refers to younger
generations who take care of their parents when they are old.

The bird also symbolizes

mobility. The comparison between the bird and the woman discloses the latter's deep
dissatisfaction with the claustrophobic boudoir.
Sigui poems are gendered poems that embody married women's strong desire to
travel back to their natal families, prevalent especially when the majority of their
marriages were arranged, not based on the couple's mutual love. The highly restricted
mobility reflects unequal family expectations of men and women that is deeply rooted in
the elite classes in pre-modern Chinese society.
2. Poems on Escorting the Corpse back Home
There were not many opportunities for women to legitimately take long journeys,
but escorting the body of a deceased husband or other close relative back to their native
place was one such occasion.

Chinese strongly believe that "the fallen leaves must

return to the root of the tree" MMrWiffi.' At old age, one should go back to his hometown.
Escorting the body back to the hometown was a serious family duty. Gan Lirou ^ALM.
(1743-1819)201 wrote four poems about the trip she took to escort the body of her fatherin-law back home:

198

Zhong, "Nuzi youxing," 153.

199

Ibid., 152-57.

200

Susan Mann discusses Zhang Wanying's travel journal "Nangui jicheng" Si&2?M in her article, "The
Virtue of Travel," 55-74; Grace S. Fong also discusses Xing Cijing's fflMW (first half of the 17*-c.)
account of long journal Summary of the Journey from Qian J.S&l7^ffl& of escorting the corpse. Fong,
Herself an Author, 91-99.
201

For a detailed study of Gan Lirou's poems, see Fong, Herself an Author, 9-53.

78

Accompanying My Father-in-law's Coffin at the Funeral

With hemp belt and hemp shoes, I wept by the coffin,
The snow flying in the sky, creating a sad scene. That day it was snowing hard.
As shiny as a pearl, he falls into the vast sea,
When the soul returns, it should enter the Jade Palace again. Father-in-law
was accepted into the Hanlin Academy upon receiving the jinshi degreee, and on
his way to sanguan,202 he got sick. Soon after he came to his home in the
capital, he passed away.

At a traditional funeral, family members would wear white clothes and shoes made of
hemp, and weeping was both an expression of sadness and part of the ritual.

Gan

Lirou's poem not only recorded her own journey, but also her father-in-law's travels. The
Hanlin Academy was the most advanced academic institute.205The routine responsibilities
of the officials at the academy included tutoring, writing and compiling histories or other
types of books. Gan Lirou's father-in-law must have been a very erudite person.
However, traveling to a post was also full of hardship, and consequently some men fell ill
or even died because of exhaustion on the road.

202

Sanguan refers to being released from Shuchang guan JES^ISt (The Institute of Advanced Studies). An
exam was given to the jinshi degree-holders as junior Hanlin Academy officials in training in order to
further qualify them for higher official responsibilities. See Benjamin A. Elman, A Cultural History of
Civil Examination in Late Imperial China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000), 163.

203

Gan, Yongxuelou gao M<-WW:Ws (1843), 2.14a, http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/mingqing/english/.

204

For studies on Chinese death rituals in late imperial China, see James L. Watson and Evelyn S. Rawski,
eds., Death Ritual in Late Imperial and Modern China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988),
and Norman Alan Kutcher, Mourning in Late Imperial China: Filial Piety and the State (Cambridge and
New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999).
205

Elman, Cultural History, 157-63.

79

Sun Peilan I^MM (first half of the 19th-c.) wrote about escorting her own father's
body in two poems "Escorting My Father's Coffin to Be Buried in Liuxia. When I
Passed the West Lake through Peach Blossom Peak, I Became Sad:"
This is the fourth time I have appreciated the West Lake,
But its prosperity has turned to ashes within a second.
Missing my father, I actively wrote poems with lake in view,
From now on, I will not ask about the plum blossoms at the Gu Hill.

Mountains and rivers connect to the clouds,

The summer heat is stuffy for a traveler on a long journey.
The past left its mark like a bird's footprints on the snow,
Every time I look back, my soul is always taken.

The poet creates a strong sense of nostalgia with her trips to the scenic spots and the
funeral journey. Unlike Gan Lirou, who expresses her sadness straightforwardly and
focuses on describing the funeral, in these two poems Sun Peilan stresses the contrast
between the pleasure trips in the past and the journey she is now taking with the deceased
father. Such a contrast vividly demonstrates her sadness and her good relations with her
father. But both Gan Lirou and Sun Peilan use the strategy of "a trip within a trip" to
create a tragic contrast between the past and the present.
Sometimes a wife escorted her husband's body back to his hometown when he
passed away in office. According to Susan Mann's recent work on the "talented women
of the Zhang family," in 1847, from Wuchang 3||, Hubei province, Zhang Wanying
206

"Song Jiayan jiu zhi Liuxia anzang you Taoyuanling guo Xihu qiran yougan (er shouyiSls^jlifEIIflT
g^&lt&U&MWfflMf&^ffi
( 1")." Sun, Yincui lou shigaoty^^BWi
(1888), 12b/13a,
http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/mingqing/english/.

80

escorted her deceased husband's body back to his ancestral home in Taicang js.1k,
Jiangsu, by boat. As it was not proper for a woman to travel alone and was dangerous to
travel on land due to bandits, Zhang Wanying took the boat in the company of her
twelve-year-old son and a nephew from her husband's family.207 Mann argues that Zhang
Wanying's journey was full of hardship and not taken for pleasure, but rather as a way to
demonstrate her female domestic virtue. 208
Like Zhang Wanying, Zuo Xijia IxMMs (1831-1896) 209 also took a long journey
during 1863-1864 to escort her husband Zeng Yong's title (d. 1862) body back to his
hometown. Zeng Yong passed away at his position in Anqing ;$; Ji, Anhui ^Wi
province. Zuo Xijia's journey was especially long because she had to first escort her
husband's body to the couple's home in J i ' a n ^ ^ , Jiangxi t L 0 province,210 and then
take it back to his hometown in Huayang IpFfii County (present-day Shuangliu Milt

207

Susan Mann, The Talented Women of the Zhang Family (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007),
113-14, 147-48, 207, 142-44. Also see Mann, "Womanly Sentiments and Political Crises: Zhang Qieying's
Poetic Voice in the Mid-Nineteenth Century," in Voices amid Silence: Women and the Nation in Modern
China (1600-1950) MS-tM: J f i f W I l W ^ f ^ l l K (1600-1950), vol. 1, ed. LuFangshang S ^
(Taipei: Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, 2003), 198-222.
208

Mann, "The Virtue of Travel."

209

Zuo Xijia was born in Changzhou % j \ \ , Jiangsu '{LW Province, an extremely important area for
women's literature in the Qing dynasty. Like many other women poets from this area, including Zhang
Wanying and her sisters, she was born to a literati family. Zuo Xijia's grandfather was Zuo Fu 2E$i (b.
1751), a well-known scholar in Changzhou. For a biography, see Miao Quansun ISS-ES, "Zeng Taifuren
Zuo shi jiazhuan" 'SX^A&fcMW,
in Yifengtang wen xuji f ffl.&XMM, Xuxiu Siku quanshu Mi&W
/ H , vol. 1574, 2.20a/b. rpt. (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1995), 187. Also see Lin Meiyi #3&
Hi, "Shilun Yanghu Zuo shi erdai cainii zhi jiazu guanxi" iSfmfH$9i:K;iXy^^ki-^-MMi^i (The
talented women of the Zuo clan of Yanghu and their family relationships," Zhongguo wenzhe yanjiu jikan
^ U l S t ^ W ^ J f c f y 30 (2007): 179-222. Also see Hu, Lidaifunu, 267.
210

"Fu jiu zhi Ji'an zhui hua xianfu yndsng^^MS.^$iE*5fc^iSf^,

4.2*.

81

in Zuo, Lengyinxianguan shigao,

County near the City of Chengdu J&M, Sichuan). Zuo Xijia's journey took about five
months by boat:
Escorting the Coffin Back Home the Tenth Day of the First Month in the Year of
Jiazi(1864)
The freezing wind is rustling and thousands of trees are broken,
The river is drying up and my boat was stranded between stones and sands.
The howling of the apes is heartbreaking and the coocoo birds are
spitting blood,
On and on, I have traveled for one hundred and fifty days. The eighth month last
year, I started the journey from Ji'an, because the river has been drying, our boat has to
go up the water, which causes the delay.

The boatman points at the City of Lotus,

Is it or is it not, my heart is disturbed.
Burning the incense and presenting the wine, I cry and confess,
To comfort my husband's accumulated homesickness. My deceased husband was
away from his hometown for eighteen years, and always wanted to come back to support
his parents.

The waves are vast and the sky is large,

My boat is being quietly pulled to the shore against the white besieged
village,
For the moment, I delay asking the servant to report the returning flag
for the funeral,
Today, at his mother's northern room, they are celebrating her birthday. On the
ninth day, I arrived to visit. It happened to be Mother's birthday and I did not dare report
[the bad news].

How dare I add trouble to the happy feast?

With a single light, I sat there until dawn,
Worried, it seems that something is hitting my heart.
Finally I cannot hide anything,
But tell the truth no matter how sad it is.
The mourning carriage followed close behind,
The light red clothes were changed into white.
Ah, the soul returns with a clear path,
The paper ashes dance and fly to the top of trees in the wood.
The swirling wind on the top of the trees frightens the crows to fall,
The mourning songs introduce the funeral carriage made of clay.
I had once heard that his hometown has many hemp and mulberry trees,
At the foot of the Pheonix Mountain, there is a dragon pool.
Layers and layers of tall trees of bamboo cover the hermit's cottage,
I have been married for ten years, but never held the bamboo rice
container [to serve the parents-in-law in Sichuan]
After passing many places, today I finally return to your home, His home is forty U
to the city.

Upon returning, I visit, too painful to face the home.

82

Entering the hall, solemnly, I paid respect to my parents-in-law,

They were sad and my heart was broken.
Kneeling down for a long time, I tried to comfort them,
The son's bones are back and the son's wife is still alive.
The grandchildren are crying, traveling with the funeral group,
My parents-in-law are old and show their affection to the children.
Day and night, I forced myself to smile to serve the parents for my
husband,
Deeply feeling my husband's sincerity, I dare not be careless.
Every careful effort needs to be well planned,
A good land is not promised, and I feel worried.
At the field, I cry hard and the sky looks dark,
The wind from the north is howling, which arouses
desolate sounds.

MMMlfiL,

MT-WJS+BO

MIUH*$&

^mmmmmm
mmzmmwM*

Zuo, Lengyinxianguan shigao, 4.6b,4.7a/b.

83

Wu\R&a%W&,

XMftmfmn

The poem vividly describes Zuo Xijia's consideration as a daughter-in-law who

hid the bad news of her husband's death in order not to ruin her mother-in-law's birthday.
Therefore, during this trip, she was not only required to escort the coffin, but also to
comfort her parents-in-law. But what is more important is that she had to be strong
enough to overcome the difficulties of the journey itself:
To the Melody of "Guiziyao:" Escorting the Coffin to Wu Gorge
The mountain is standing and the vehement waves are rising,
Reaching to the sky, they make the world narrow.
The waves at the gorge roll up backward, like a groaning dragon,
The apes cry from four directions, startling people's souls.
I stand next to the coffin, with a sad heart,
The boat is dashed about by the waves.

While anchoring her boat near the Wu Mountain area, Zuo Xijia just missed being robbed
by a gang of bandits hidden in the mountain. Facing the dangers, she showed
extraordinary courage:
The gang of bandits was hidden in the mountain,
And how could they miss the chance of robbing this boat? On the mountain,
twenty bandits were hidden.

The people who talked about them feel frightened,

The people who listened to the stories turned red in face.
Only I am pressing my sword while sitting,
Silently, I am imitating the deaf and the dumb.
Facing such a danger, how can I not be afraid?
But at this moment, I need to have a wise person's mind.

212

Zuo, Lengyinxianguan shiyu )$P$,'flljftf^f ^ , 3a.

84

213

Women's poems on escorting corpses offer much information about men's travels
and various relations between women and men, which reflect both family rituals and
emotional bonds between family members. These poems also show that their journeys
were full of hardships and dangers, and correspondingly, the image of women travelers
illustrates a calmness and strength traditionally attributed to men only. This kind of
journey enabled these women to execute their courage and capability in handling external
complexities as well as domestic responsibilities, directly challenging the divisions
between female and male duties.
3. Poems on Women's Pilgrimage
Women poets often turned to religion, mainly Buddhism and Daoism, for spiritual
consolation in their inner quarters. With the household as a place for various religious
practices, women worshipped statues or paintings of the Buddha or bodhisattvas,
especially Bodhisattva Guanyin who, in at least one of her many forms, was thought to
have the power to give sons to those who prayed for them. Women also copied the sutras
or embroidered Buddhist images in order to accumulate merit for a good death.
Sometimes, monks/nuns would visit their homes to give a funeral service or
performances on the sutras for religious edification.214 In addition to their domestic
religious activities, women went on pilgrimages to participate in religious services at the

21

Zuo, Lengyinxianguan shigao, 4.4b.

214

Ko, Teachers, 197-202; Susan Mann, "Piety," in Precious Records: Women in China's Long Eighteenth
Century (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997), 178-200; Chun-fang Yu, Kuan-yin: The Chinese
Transformation of Avalokitesvara (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001), 336-38.

85

temples.

The tradition of burning incense at a temple did not begin in the Ming-Qing

period, but it was from this period that such pilgrimages, often over long distances, began
to be conducted on a large scale. Two of the most popular pilgrimage destinations were
Mount Tai 0 ill in Shandong province and Tianzhu 3K=. Temple in Hangzhou.216
Both men and women considered Mount Tai to be a sacred place. A man's
pilgrimage focused on ancestor worship and requesting a male heir, while women
concentrated on requesting a son and solutions for personal issues ("the protection of
newborns, cure of illnesses, health, and wealth") from Goddess Bixia Yuanjun MWiTtWi
and her assistant goddesses.

17

These pilgrimages not only increased women's mobility,

but also expanded their social network of women friends and acquaintances and provided
women with an important venue for self-expression. However, because of the women's
gender, such a pilgrimage was often seen as suspicious and criticized. As Chen
HongmoufflUfeM.(1696-1771) complains:
Some [women] climb into their palanquins and go traveling in the mountains.
Some ascend to pavilions and gaze at the evening moon. In the most extreme
cases, we find them traveling around visiting temples and monastries, burning
incense and forming societies for prayer and meditations, kneeling to listen,
chanting the surras. In the temple courtyard and precincts of the monasteries, they
chant and laugh freely. The worst time was in the last ten days of the third lunar
month, when they form sisterhoods and spend the night in local temples; on the
sixth day of the sixth month, when they believe that if they turn over the pages of
the sutras ten times they will be transformed into men in a future life; and on the
last day of the seventh month, when they light lanterns and suspend them from
215

On the boat to the temples or at the temples, religious stories would be told to entertain the visitors, as
demonstrated in the activity ofxuanjuan $.% Wan Qingchuan If Bjf jl| and Cao Lina WltSP, "Xuanjuan
yujinxiang: Ming-Qing funu shenghuo jianyingyi xiaoshuo wei kaocha d u i x i a n g " m # ^ i S # : ^MffltSi
S J ? ^ W ' h B & & ; # S f ^ , Zhongguo dianjiyu wenhua ^ f f l H I I H J t t t , 3 (2007): 97.
216

Wan and Cao, "Xuanjuan," 98.

217

Brian R. Dott, "Pilgrimage as Popular Agency: Women and Men Seeking Children and Heirs," in
Pilgrimages to Mount Tai in Late Imperial China, chap. 1 (Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard
University Asia Center, 2004), 105-49.

86

their bodies in hopes of gaining good fortune. They may spend the night in a
mountain temple to fulfill a vow made to ensure the birth of a son. Or they may
^renounce the world and shut themselves up in a cloistered chamber, performing
menial services on the first and fifteenth days of each lunar month. The monks
and priests entertain them cordially; evil youths encircle the place. And their
husbands and relatives thinking nothing of it! This is really a plight on the
reputation of the local community!

m^mmih, mm&ME, %m^mmm &#$#, mmmm, I^BM

K. m^mu,

3 U t # . HJfTlO, W H t t i ^ ^ t . Ai!7N0WfflM+

&n, mmw&, $&&&, m&mm, **mm, ig*jn.

a. 218

mmmz

The large-scale pilgrimages described by Chen Hongmou are reflected in the novel
Xingshi yinyuan zhuan Sttt^S^tfll (Marriage destinies to awaken the world). In
Chapters 68 and 69, about eighty women riding in sedan chairs or on donkey-back were
organized by the Xianghui #W(Club for burning incense) to travel two hundred // to
Niangniang Temple at Mount Tai to burn incense. 219 Chen Hongmou was concerned
about misconduct on women's pilgrimages, when women temporarily left the restrictions
of family. On these piligramages, women formed a new community with "friends"
which included other women and suspicious groups such as licentious monks and priests
or other evil men. Chen Hongmou's criticism, in fact, directly points to the ways in
which travel was thought to lead to a transgression of family duties and gender norms.

218

He Changling fi-U? (1785-1848), comp., Huangchaojingshi wenbian M D ^ H t t X t S , repr. (Taibei:

Shijie shuju, 1964), 68.2b. The English translation is from Mann, Precious Records, 195-96. Also see
William T. Rowe, "Women and the Family in Mid-Ch'ing Social Thought: The Case of Chen Hung-mou,"
in Late Imperial China 13, no.2 (1992): 1-41. For a more recent and comprehensive article on this issue,
see Vincent Goossaert, "Irrepressible Female Piety: Late Imperial Bans on Women Visiting Temples," Nan
Nti: Men, Women and Gender in China 10, no. 2 (2008): 212-41.
219

Dott, Pilgrimages to Mount, 90-100. Wan and Cao, Xuanjuan, 99-100. For a translation of two
chapters of the seventeenth-century novel Xingshi yinyuan zhuan, see Glen Dudbridge, "Women Pilgrims
to T'ai Shan: Some Pages from a Seventeenth-Century Novel," in Pilgrims and Sacred Sites in China, ed.
Susan Naquin and Chunfang Yii (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992), 39-64.

87

First, it took women away from their own family, and then replaced family members with
friends from outside the family; in so doing it threatened the traditional domestic system.
In the sigui poems and poems on escorting corpses, women's travel was mainly a symbol
of female domestic virtue and they were usually accompanied by people from their
families. So even though they physically left the home, they were still accompanied, and
watched over, by the family. However, when they socialized with friends in a public
spacethe templewhere the gods and goddesses rather than fathers, husbands, or inlaws symbolically held the power, the hold of the family over women appeared to be
weakened, if not seriously threatened.

Because of the strong social disapproval of

women going on pilgrimage, the majority of women who participated in these excursions
were low-class women or low-class women such as maids from upper-class families.
Most elite women still chose to jin sanxiang iitifrlf (burn incense unassociated with a
club) which means they went to the temple with family members.
Besides Mount Tai in the north, Tianzhu Temple in the south was another popular
pilgrimage destination. The gentry woman poet Xi Peilan visited this temple and vividly
described her journey:
My sedan enters the pine wood and I feel slightly cold.
The bamboo of the sedan is cool and my green garment is thin.
To burn the incense, I need to wash all my thoughts clean,
The peach blossom along the way, I dare not notice.

220

In Chinese culture, besides the dominant Confucian system, even religious Daoism whose pantheon of
deities include many goddesses and female transcendents, considered women to be inherently weak-willed
and easily seduced and led astray. See "Queen Mother of the West's Ten Precepts on the True Path of
Women's Practice," in Douglas Wile, ed., Art ofBedchamber: The Chinese Sexual Yoga Classics including
Women's Solo Meditation Texts (Albany: The State University of New York Press, 1992), 192-201.

221

Wan and Cao, "Xuanjuan," 98.

88

The Buddhist power at the temple opens itself,

The petal rain falls onto the emerald moss.
The mountain faces the three sides and the Buddha has three faces,
The fragrant cloud accompanies the believers who come by.

Upon the sound of a bell, thousands of attachments are cleared,

Holding the real incense I beg for proof and promise.
Cultivating myself to reach the plum blossom should not be far,
I pity myself in this life already slimming.

The aesthetic effect in this set of poems is very similar to the theatrical effect of the
pilgrimage to Mount Tai in the dramas of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
According to Wilt Idema, rather than the government's documents that focused on the
"community effect" of the activity of burning incense, "by stressing the individual nature
of the protagonist, and deemphasizing the local deity involved, the action of the drama
increases its claim to universality."

In the first line of Xi Peilan's first poem, the

protagonist's sedan enters the stage, and the cuiyi (green garment) in the second line
specifies the gender of the traveler. The third and fourth lines emphasize the selfdiscipline of the woman. The second poem further creates a dramatic setting with the
beautiful background, focusing on the re-entry of the female protagonist as she becomes
enlightened with the fragrant cloud around her. When the "drama" reaches the climax of
the "seemingly" enlightened, the bell wakes up the readers and pulls them back into
222

Xi, three poems entitled "Tianzhu jinxiang cV'^i^M^fM,

223

Changzhen geji, 6.13b.

Wilt L. Idema, "The Pilgrimage to Taishan in the Dramatic Literature of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth
Centuries," Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews (CLEAR) 19 (1997): 23-57. The quotation is
fromp.55.

89

reality: burning the incense for good fortune. The last two lines in the third poem are a
calm description of reality: I am still an ordinary woman who suffers in this present life,
but today I am making efforts to achieve enlightenment in this temple. No specific deity
is emphasized, but the focus is the dramatic play of the female protagonist. While Xi
Peilan creates a pious female image on her pilgrimage, other women describe the temple
scene with light sarcasm. Ling Zhiyuan i^llfcM (b. ca. 1830) wrote a long poem about
her pilgrimage to the same location:
The rain cloud flies away and the sunny cloud opens the sky,
The bamboo sedan enters the temple in the mountain at dawn.
I am afraid that I cannot catch the first wave of burning incense,
Why do the laymen and laywomen gather to return in groups?
To cross the river, one will wish to depend on the boat of compassion.
Peacefully, one must have a vegetable diet and stop killing,
Traveling a thousand li to worship at this mountain is for delivering
sincerity.
One incense made of fragrant wood and two silver-color candles,
Under the embroidered flag, we worship the Buddha to voice our own
wishes.
Looking for profit and gaining the favor,
the old monk smiles,
The candles are frequently changed and are not seen to finish
burning.
Piously I have made my prayers for nearly ten times,
Repeatedly I wish I could eradicate my mundane ties.
For the past and the future, we can refer to the Buddhist teaching,
One string of rosaries has eight hundred beads.
Pay our respect to Boddhisattva Guanyin!

90

Sg#iIo 224
Different from Xi Peilan's poem, Ling Zhiyuan not only emphasizes the concept of
"community," but also specifies the deity that the pilgrims are flocking to see:
Bodhisattva Guanyin. In the pilgrimage to Mount Tai during the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries, visitors were mostly men, which Idema argues is because women
easily became victims of various dangers on the trip such as kidnapping or death.
However, Idema also points out that in later times, when the Daoist goddess Bixia
Yuanjun became the focus of Mount Tai worship, female visitors began to increase.
This indicates that the increasing popularity of travel and whether or not the deity
worshipped was female had a direct influence on the number of female worshippers at the
temple. Because it was Bodhisattva Guanyin that was the main deity at Tianzhu Temple,
many worshippers there were women.
There are three sections to the Tianzhu Temple: Upper Tianzhu, Middle Tianzhu
and Lower Tianzhu. The Upper Tianzhu has been extremely famous as a shrine to
Bodhisattva Guanyin. The popularity of the temple was partially due to the avid
participation of the emperors who fashioned "burning incense at the Tianzhu Temple."226
Ling Zhiyuan's poem targets this social fashion instead of focusing on personal
enlightenment.
In describing the temple's business sense of making profit, Ling Zhiyuan is
sarcastic about the conflict between religious piety and mundane profit which clashed at
224

Ling, "Tianzhu jinxiang q u " ^ j t # f f i , Cuiluoge shici gao ^Uffl%5MM (1854), 1.4b-1.5a,
http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/mingqing/english/. Also see my discussion on Ling Zhiyuan in chap. 4.
225

Idema, "The Pilgrimage to Taishan," 55-56.

226

In 1751, Emperor Qianlong visited the temple and began to call the Upper Tianzhu Faxi Temple

91

V1|TP.

the temple. Watching the candles that never seem to stop burning, the old monk smiles,
indicating that only the monk knows how useful the worship actually is, and the truth is
really about making profit out of people's belief. This mockery of the religious
hypocrisy is blended with Ling's hidden agenda of distinguishing herself, an upper-class
woman, from the low-class women who took the long-distance journey with the club to
waste money on burning incense. In this case, Ling Zhiyuan inherited Han Yu and Yuan
Mei's spirit of laughing at the Buddhist culture while living in it.

227

Compared to the first two types of journeys, women's pilgrimages were one step
further away from the boudoir in spirit. Instead of relying on the family, women devoted
more belief in deities, and in some cases, in playful, dramatic or even sarcastic tones.
Although only temporary, the pilgrimages provide a space for life alternatives.
4. Women Poets Traveling in Times of Chaos
From my discussion of early women poets such as Lady Xu Mu or Cai Yan, we
can see another outstanding type of travel: women traveling in times of social chaos.
Such journeys take place under extreme circumstances that are beyond a woman's
personal control and that often, have a national significance.
In late imperial China, women often had to face terrible social chaos: dynastic
transitions, bandits, rebels, and foreign invasions. Consequently travel became a
necessity in order to biluan M i l (avoid the chaos) or bi bingluan i@^SL (avoid
rampaging soldiers). Women traveling during chaos had to experience the destabilization
of their gender and class, hi order to defend their physical chastity, women often

See my discussions in Chap. 1 on Han Yu and Yuan Mei.

92

committed suicide to avoid rape from the intruders. Some left poems on walls before
death to earn a posthumous heroic name.
In her poem "Xigou daozhong" B^tiK11!11 (On the way to the Western Ravine), a
girl from Yangzhou whose family name was Zhang (ca.l6th-cen.) wrote at the age of
seventeen:
No more elegant steps, I had to change my lotus shoes,
How terrible that a woman is forced to dress like a man.
Someone helped me mount onto the jade saddle, but I lost balance,
Tears drop as much as the sand rising from the horse hooves.

& 5 i , &mMmm&\

229

Cross-dressing became a necessity to protect a woman's safety and maintain as much

gender propriety as possible.

In this case, masculine dress has to be put on temporarily

to protect Zhang's life. Taking off the small shoes that Chinese women wore for their
bound feet was an essential way to hide one's female and class identity. Dorothy Ko
argues that despite the painful experience of binding their feet, women regarded the

228

Judith Zeitlin, "Disappearing Verses: Writings on Walls and Anxieties of Loss," in Writing and
Materiality in China: Essays in Honor of Patrick Hanan, ed._Judith Zeitlin and Lydia H. Liu, with Ellen
Widmer (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2003): 73-132. Grace S. Fong, "Signifying
Bodies: The Cultural Significance of Suicide Writings by Women in Ming-Qing China," Nan Nil: Men,
Women and Gender in Early and Imperial China 3, no. 1 (2001): 105-42.
229

Zhang, Zhengshiji, appendix, lb/2a. The case of Woman Zhang is also recorded in Chen Weisong $|$
S (1626-1682), Furenji MAM, in Congshu jicheng chubian S * f t ^ 4 ^ J l S , ed. Wang Yunwu 3 i s i
(Taibei: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1936), 45.

230

Cross-dressing had a rich meaning in imperial China. See Bao Zhenpei fifijRin, "Zhenshi yu
xiangxiangZhongguo gudai yizhuang wenhua de shanbian yu wenxue biaoxian" Jt-ljf ISJSII^4* HSiS"

VtBi^XVcMA^^X^^M,

Nankaixuebao (zhexue shehui kexue banJ^m^W

(2001): 68-80.

93

(1^l1k&^f&)

sewing of their three-inch shoes as a craft that symbolized their skills and beauty.
Zhang's journey symbolized the loss of a stable life and her female identity.
In their poems, women poets not only presented their own feelings about traveling
in chaos, but also observed other women on the road. In her flight to avoid the Taiping
Rebellion (1851-1864), Chen Yunlian fflMM (fl. 1840) wrote a poem entitled "Tuzhong
j i m u " ^ 1 ^ BP @ (Witnessed along the way):
Everywhere women are carried by thin horses,
With eyes covered by gauze, they wear high hair buns and black leather
boots.
Why are there so few beautiful women now?
In vain it is said that beauties are many in Yan and Zhao.

iumm^mmm, um&A.mmo232
Chen Yunlian emphasizes the visuality of women travelers in chaos: the skinny horses
and the masculine clothes (black leather boots) worn by the women travelers. The
dramatic changes in women's appearance and mobility disclose the misery caused by war.
The loss of feminine beauty marks the destructive power that chaos has over beauty in
life. Here, the disorder of femininity and masculinity or rather, the androgyny in crossdressing, becomes a metaphor for social disorder. The gentry women with bound feet
who usually took elegant steps inside their boudoirs now have to dress as an ordinary
man to hide their gender and high-class identities for protection on the road.

23

' Dorothy Ko, Every Step a Lotus: Shoes for Bound Feet (Berkeley and London: University of California
Press, 2001). Also see her Cinderella's Sisters: A Revisionist History of Footbinding (Berkeley: University
of California Press, 2005).
232

Chen,Xinfangge shicao { g ^ l S I t ^ (1859), 3.11b, http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/mingqing/english/.

94

Li Changxia ^ H R (ca. 1830-1880) was a woman born to a scholar-official's

family and married to a student from Shandong ill Jfl province. Her journey enabled her
to interact with a group of low-class women who were suffering from bandits, and these
women's story became a poetic inspiration for her:
A number of old widowed women
Told me their story, faces covered with tears:
But when we peasants die we simply vanish,
Just like water bubbles floating on the stream!
They leave behind them a tender infant son,
They leave behind their white-haired mothers,
Their farms are lost and cannot be recovered,
And still the taxes of the state must be paid.
Those who have died are gone away forever,
Those still living are constantly beset by cares."

^ # n e ^ , &mmm&o - 233
Kang-i Sun Chang argues that, as for male writers, poetry became an important
venue for women to witness and remember history while in exile.234 Instead of focusing
on witnessing however, sometimes women shifted to constructing a Utopia that was
opposite to the social reality they witnessed. The Utopian theme has its origin in Tao

233

Li, "Fu Weixian" j&WM, in Xu Shichang f^itts, comp., Qingshi hui vf M S (Beijing: Beijing
chubanshe, 1996), 189.7b, p. 3195. Idema and Grant, Red Brush, 671.

234

Chang, "Modai cainii de 'luanli' shi" ^i^t

yanjiu #-ft&tf Affi% 224-45.

W"llfSt"M, in Zhang and Zhang, Gudai niishiren

95

Yuanming's "Taohuayuan ji" $fc#:$|l2 (Account of the Peach Blossom Spring).235 In

his essay, a fisherman stumbles upon a Utopian land where people who having fled a time
of chaos many generations earlier, have since been living at peace oblivious of the
troubles of the outside world. On the surface, the use of Utopia is to escape from the
chaos; in reality, the focus on Utopia unveils the hidden anxiety of the author who
attempts to replace the unpleasant history with poetic therapy. In order to avoid the
Taiping Rebellion, Chen Yunlian (mentioned above) had to travel from Tianjin where her
husband Zuo Chen 2 JI had taken an official post, for a short refuge in Shengfang M
$f.236 Along the way, she wrote eleven poems, the first four of which express her delight
at having escaped the chaos and having found a haven of relative security:
My boat traveled a hundred // and left the beacon in the distance,
After I come here, I finally discover another world.
More than helping my whole family avoid the flames of war,
Even my chickens and dogs will all become immortal.237
235

Tao, "Taohuanyuan ji bing shi" ffifaMiSi&Wf, in Yang, Tao Yuanmingjijiaojian,

English translation, see Davis, T'ao Yiian-ming, vol. I, 195-201.

275-82. For an

236

Shengfang refers to present-day Shengfang Bf^j, Hebei province. Shengshui hexiang B^jc-j^f# (The
fragrant lotus flowers in the Sheng River) is one of the eight famous scenic spots in Wen'an'JCJ$county,
Hebei province. See Wen 'an xian zhi 'SCicM^lU, rept. (Taibei: Chengwen chubanshe, 1968), 210. For more
information on Chen Yunlian and military chaos near Tianjin, see Xiaorong Li, "Rewriting the Inner
Chambers: The Boudoir in Ming-Qing Women's Poetry," Ph.D. diss. (McGill University, 2006), 201-07.

Jiquan shengtian 8 1 ^ 3 ^ ^ (chickens and dogs become immortal) is a phrase from the story of Liu An
SlJiS; ascending as an immortal: "The books of the Literati relate that the Prince of Huai-nan in his study of
Taoism assembled all the Taoists of the empire, and humbled the grandeur of a princedom before the
expositors of Taoist lore. Consequently, Taoist scholars flocked to Huai-nan and vied with each other in
exhibiting strange tricks and all kinds of miracles. The prince attained to Tao and rose to heaven with his
whole household. His domestic animals became genii too. His dogs barked up in the sky, and the cocks
crowed in the clouds. That means that there was such plenty of the drug of immortality, that dogs and
cocks could eat of it, and follow the prince to Heaven" ^ t ^ j l ^ i ! . J S # ^ T W i t i . A ffiW'ZM,

T i l 2 . , MttW.tiZ,

M#vtS, i ^ f l j l i , H*f*tJB. laifSit. &mft%.. VMWiiii,

A ^ K ^ U : , H R l K ' S ^ o l t b - g # i W I . JtWkZ,
i l H S - ^ l f i . Wang Chong 3E?5, "Dao Xu
pian" MAWi, in Lunhengjiaoshi (fu Liu Pansuijijie) fpHUIS^P (PftSlllfrji-^li?), compiled and annotated
by Huang Hui ]S[BJP (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1990), 7.317-18. For the translation of the story, see Alfred
Forke, trans, and annotator, Lun-heng, Part I. Philosophical Essays of Wang Ch 'ung, 2nd ed. (New York:
Paragon Book Gallery, 1962), 335.

96

I feel carefree and happy, smelling the strong fragrance,

In the bushes of thousands of flowers, I take a light boat.
Consort Taizhen and Guoguo can be imitated,
The make-up is half strong, half light. The Tengfang people lived on planting lotus
flowers and when I got here, they were in bloom.

White, red, purple and yellow,

Numerous water flowers go around the oar.
This trip is even better than those at Shanyin,
The beautiful views are immortal lands that keep me busy.

I wrote my fleetingly peaceful life into poems,

In front of the hermit's residence, the spring water is flowing.
Fishing, cutting wood, plowing and studying, the local customs are great,
This place can be seen as the Peach Blossom Spring.

mmffim&MM, ^mmmmmo239
The poet positions herself into the fisherman's role who discovers the Peach Blossom
Spring and greatly enjoys the "perfect" life by appreciating the rural landscapes. She
even claims that this place is better than her home Shanyin (present-day Shaoxing &SH,
Zhejiang province). However, such a feeling is only the result of the poet's selffashioning which shows a hidden anxiety over the "unavoidable" war. In the last poem

238

Taizhen and Guoguo were two beauties in Chinese history. Taizhen was Emperor Xuanzong's ~TK (r.
712-756) consort Yang Yuhuan's Daoist name, and Lady Guoguo was Yang Yuhuan's elder sister.

239

"Biluan Tengfang tuzhong jijing liiguan yuanhuai gong deshi shiyi zhang"MfLM$iik,P
^ f # I H M , in Chen, Xinfangge shicao, 5.22a, 5.22b, 5.23a, 5.23b.

97

SPJcJjfeilllf'P

quoted above, the poet starts with the character zan W (temporary) which represents her
awareness of the transience of the Utopian illusion and fear for the worse situation.
In the remaining seven poems, one piece of bad news follows another in quick
succession: the invasion of her hometown ("In the fourth month, I suddenly heard of the
loss of my hometown, / The long-hairs burned and ravaged unusually brutally" 0 M U K
zk~$lM> S^S^JiSjaU'ffiO, her female acquaintance' suicide upon the loss of the city of
Changzhou ("Her graceful action of committing suicide indeed should be respected, / She
well deserved her name Zhuang Youzhen [befriend chastityrf^WMtt^JSIfc, ^ft'\$L
MMM01),

and the non-action of military leaders ("If fighting resolutely we might win, /

but who expected that you all watch, with your hands in your sleeves"T=f ^flrMM
M> ttf4tii -^tt^F^f). The conflict in the same set of poems reflects the tension
between the poet's desire for peace and tranquility and the bitter social reality. The
anxiety of war is revealed when the illusion of utopia fades away.
The utopia theme was also used by another woman poet Chen Jia M.M (7-1861)
in a ci poem in which she played with the concept of the Peach Blossom Spring as a real
place by this name in her exile during the Taiping Rebellion in 1860:
To the Melody of "Cave Immortals:" In the Year of Gengshen [1860], after the
invasion of Hangzhou, There Were Many Migrants. At the Beginning of the
Fourth Month, I Followed My Husband Crossing the Qiantang River towards the
East to Hide in the Countryside of Taoyuan (Peach-blossom Source). I
Elaborated on What I Had Seen on the Way and Wrote This Poem
We crossed the Qiantang River to the East,
Rowing by oar, the wide and beautiful rivers and mountains will be seen
soon.
Counting all members of the family, together we boarded the
rented boat,
Gazing at numerous beautiful scenes across the river.

98

The Peach-blossom Source is still there: the little children with yellowish
hair do not understand the bitterness of wars in the human world.
This is the hometown of the immortals, and for hundreds of thousands of
years, chickens, dogs, leftover hemp is as before.
I ask: "when can we take the boat to come back?" "Wait until we sweep
away the evil, and sail across the River again."

mmtm, mnBM^mm^, nm^mtnmm^

240

In the "Peach Blossom Spring," Tao Yuanming did not specify a location. His fictional
construction of the location left space for later poets to play with the term Taohua yuan.
In this poem, Chen Jia and her family took the boat to Taoyuan Xiang $!:$$$ (Peach
Blossom Spring Village) in Xiaoshan M ill, Zhejiang province. Going to Taoyuan xiang
was a journey to avoid social chaos, and the poet hoped to return to her home in
Hangzhou after the war. Again, the temporality of the world of Peach Blossom Spring is
emphasized here to serve as a short-term spiritual refuge for survival. Such a temporality
symbolizes either the woman's anxiety of the unavoidable situation or a tool for bridging
the spiritual gap between the peaceful period and wartime.
Temporality is not only exemplified by the concept of Peach Blossom Spring, but
is also tightly associated with gender. Ruan Enluan |5L$c (1831-1854), 241zz Meichuan
, was a native of Yizheng (HIE, Jiangsu province, a pious daughter who was married

240

Chen, Xieyunlou ci %Wi$M, 1.5b/6a, in Xiaotanluan shi huike baijia guixiuci

'bWM'iLlkM'SSKl3f
M, ed. Xu Naichang # 7 3 H (1896), http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/mingqing/english/.

241

She was the granddaughter of the famous scholar Ruan Yuan (5t7C (1764-1849).

99

at twenty-one. In 1853, when the Taiping troops were nearing Jiangsu and Zhejiang, she
had to travel with her parents-in-law into the countryside:
To the Melody of "Bi tao chun:" By Nature I Am Fond of Mountains and Waters.
When I Was A Maid I Sometimes Went Boating on a Lake or Left My Trace in
Famous Gardens, and I Traveled Several Times per Month. Since I Was Married
in Hangzhou, All Chores Came and I Have Not Had Time to Appreciate the
Lakes and Mountains. When I Thought about This, I Felt Disappointed. In the
Spring of the Year of Guichou (1853), War Was Nearing Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
I Followed my Parents-in-law to hide in Dongwan, Xincheng. Although This Is
Countryside, It Is Full of Waters and Mountains and the View is Endless.
Mountains Seem to Smile in Pairs and the Trees in the Distance Look like My
Hairpin. I Looked up and down, Wandering around, Feeling Pleased in My
Heart and Eyes. For This Reason, I Filled up the Melody to Write about the
Beautiful Scenery
The scenery along the Qiantang River is beautiful,
Hidden from the wide world, visiting this place during war can
comfort me.
The cloud is around and the rain is hazy,
Looking at several peaks merging into a natural picture,
How did I expect to see such a view in my exile?

mmm, * ; . * , mmMxmm*, mmm&.242

In this poem, although Ruan Enluan does not mention the term Peach Blossom
Spring, she is indeed enjoying a peaceful and beautiful place similar to it. The uniqueness
of this poem is that the poet skillfully combines several kinds of temporalities: the
temporality of her girlhood before marriage, the temporality of her leisure in travel and
play, the temporality of peace. The poet misses the leisure in girlhood and only realizes
the loss of such a luxury after marriage. The poet loses her joy of traveling after marriage,

Ruan, Cihuiguan ci WM-W^,

1.5a/b, in Xu, Xiaotanluan.

100

yet the war serves as a positive means for her to resume her travels, fulfilling her dream
impossible during a normal married life. The precious temporality links the rare national
peace and the woman poet's short girlhood pleasure for travel: In reality, both seem to be
gone forever.
Wars pushed women from the boudoirs to the roads or rivers. Forced to travel,
they immediately linked together the dynastic crisis and their personal identity as upperclass women. Furthermore, the search for a Peach Blossom Spring on their journey is
prevalent in their poems on travel, and sometimes their play with this Utopian ideal is
linked to the temporality of their personal life as female. Interestingly, when chaos gave
women the chance to contact the real world, they had a tendency to create Utopian
illusions in exile that fought against the reality they witnessed. The strong tension
between the several worlds they conceived of in the inner quarters, on the journey, and in
wishful imagination disclose the destructive power of war from female perspectives.
5. Women's Travels Inspired by Each Other
As Martin W. Huang points out, for sixteenth-century male literati, there was a
tight connection between the characters you~%L(friend) and you JH (travel): "To have
many male friends was often considered an important badge of masculinity since it
bespoke a man's ability to travel and meet other men outside his family and beyond his
hometown, thus a manly accomplishment, whereas a woman was required by Confucian
norm to be confirmed within the boundary of the household." 243 Huang points out three
keywords for my discussion: family, travel and friends. Women's travel destabilizes the
traditional opposition of family versus friends, instead, it stimulates the transition from
243

Martin W. Huang, "Male Friendship in Ming China: An Introduction," Nan Nil: Men, Women and
Gender 9, no. 1(2007): 5-6.

101

the domestic circle to the wider social circles. Women's travel was often accompanied
by building up a sisterhood with female friends. In women's poems on mobility, there are
many poems on mutual visits between female friends.
Huang Yuanjie MMJY (1618-1685), zi Jieling W^, native of Jiaxiang H M ,
Zhejiang province, was a famous woman poet and painter. She married Yang Shigong ^
ttt^t) (fl. 17th-cen.), a local literarus who led a poor and unstable life. Living through the
Ming-Qing transition, she had to travel around to make a living:
In 1645, at the Ming-Qing transition, her [Huang Yuanjie] home was destroyed.
She then traveled between Jiangsu and Zhejiang, got stuck in Juli, Yunjian,
Hanshan [within modern Jiangsu province], Jiankang [modern Nanjing, Jiangsu
province], traveled to Jinsha [within modern Nantong county, Jiangsu province],
and stayed in Yunyang [modern Danyang, Jiangsu].

&l?g*&H.

244

For Huang Yuanjie, traveling was forced because of her poor financial situation, and in
fact, it was a merchant's support that made Huang's trips possible.

She used to stay at

the Duanqiao iff Wi in Hangzhou to sell her poems and paintings for a living. As Dorothy
Ko points out, a significant social change during Huang's time was the rise of
professional women who often replaced their husbands in supporting the family by using
their skills outside the household.

Huang's journey to Hangzhou and her business of

selling poems and paintings do not just symbolize a temporary climax of a single
244

In Ni Tao i%W (jinshi, 1709), Liuyi zhiyi lu A H i . f t , xubian fflLfSt, 13.40b, in Wenyuange siku,
zibu "?M2

Ellen Widmer, The Beauty and the Book: Women and Fiction in Nineteenth-Century China (Cambridge,
MA and London: Harvard University Asia Center, 2006), 160. Hu Wenkai also records the poem
collection of the exchanged poems between Huang Yuanjie and the women poets during this journey. See,
Hu, Lidaifunu, 936.
246

Ko, Teachers, 115-23.

102

woman's mobility and economic role, but stays in literary women's memory as a cultural
heritage. Later, when another woman poet and painter Wen Jingyu 3tf?3i (fl. second
half of the 18th-c.-first half of the 19th-c.) 247 happened to stay at Huang's former
residence, she wrote the following poem "Staying at the Little Tower at Duanqiao, Which
was Probably the Former Residence of Huang Jieling. I Wrote a Poem to Record My
Feelings" ("Yuju Duanqiao xiaolou dang shi Huang Jieling jiuju ye ganfu yishou"^j^iff

I recall Huang Jieling

Who once stayed at this tower.
She opened the window to see the bright mirror-like moon,
The door covered the autumn scene of the decorated bridge.
Appreciating the flowers and the moon, she enjoyed an elegant stroll,
The mountains were all collected in her painting manuscripts.
I remember she stayed here for a month,
Her fragrant shadow lingers at my curtain hooks.

mmwm, rmmmm.
ffitfM/fft, &m&M. 248
Wen Jingyu imagined the time when Huang Yuanjie was appreciating the beautiful
scenery of the West Lake writing poems and painting pictures. At the same time, Wen
Jingyu positions herself in Huang's place: sitting at the same tower, appreciating the view
and writing the poem. The literary and spiritual connections between the two women
poets were realized in Wen Jingyu's poem. For Wen, the site she visited goes beyond a
scenic spot or old residence, rather, it is a historical and cultural site connected to the
female literary tradition established by Huang.

247

Wen was Chen Wenshu's concubine.

248

Yun, Zhengshiji, 9.21b, 9.22a.

103

Huang Yuanjie's journey not only served as an excellent example of women's

travels, but also initiated more travels within the region she travelled to. In 1658, Huang
traveled to Meishi $tTJT, Shanyin, where many local women poets welcomed and
exchanged poems with her. Among the women poets, Shang Jinglan ^jflljsij (1604ca.1680) and her daughters Qi Deyuan WiMM (A. 17th-c.) and Qi Deqiong Wi&% (fl.
17th-c.) were in frequent contact with Huang. During her visit, Shang Jinglan and Huang
Yuanjie often went out together on excursions, and when Huang had to leave, Shang
Jinglan was sad:
Sending Huang [Yuanjie] Off to the Provincial Capital
The wind drives the lone sail away,
The empty curtain makes me sad.
Petals scatter on the barren, zigzag path,
Fallen leaves gather on the wild, deserted hill.
The river moon chills the fisherman's boat,
Mountain clouds escort the traveler's skiff.
Though we take leave of one another today,
I shall long remember our nighttime excursions.

mmmm, nmtmm,249
Sometimes, when women tried to visit Huang Yuanjie, she happened to be absent,
and thus wrote poems on their disappointment over failing to meet her. The theme of an
unfulfilled visit was a traditional poetic topic since Tang poet Jia Dao's Jf A (779-843)
"Xun yinzhe b u y u " # H # ^ i (Seeking but not finding the recluse) in which the visitor
249

Wang Duanshu lE'JmM, comp., Mingyuan shiwei chubian ^>WM&I#JS- The translation is by Ellen
Widmer, in Chang and Saussy, Women Writers, 314-15.

104

cannot find the hermit who is hidden in the mountains.

One day when Qi Deyuan

visited Huang Yuanjie, the latter was not there:

I Visited Huang Jieling, But Missed Her
News spread that a good guest had arrived,
Swiftly I boarded an orchid boat.
With wide banks on the sides, thousands of mountains
fall behind in the distance,
The freezing waves flow with water's edges.
Remembering people, I hurry to visit,
Composing a poem, I admire those who climb the high.
I cherish even the transience of our destined meeting,
Yet only empty shades and jade hooks are left in silence.
- pcBr-^-^fc^^g

251

Another poem with the same title was written by a nun Jingyin If @:
I Visited Huang Jieling, but Could Not Find Her
I have long heard the arrival of this good guest,
Rowing two oars, I crossed the river in the wind.
Our paths were originally tied,
And how can our Chan heart not share common points?
In the cloud, the sleeves shed their shadows,
The flowers fall in the little pond turning it red.
I did not see the return of the lonely boat,
My sorrow is thrown into the autumn view.

250

Quart Tang shi, 574.6746. Although Jia Dao is widely recognized as the author of this poem, according
to the Quart Tang shi, some believe this poem is entitled "Fang Yang Zunshi" aS^-HlSp attributed to Sun
Ge ^%M-. Nevertheless, the poem becomes well-known for its topic on understanding hermitage. For an
English translation, see Mike O'Connor, trans., When I Find You Again, It Will Be in Mountains (Boston:
Wisdom Publications, 2000), 23.
Wang, Mingyuan shiwei, 13.37a.

105

*JLiE, IfSfe^. 252

Huang Yuanjie played the role of a hermit this time. Such a visit between nuns and
gentry women became fashionable in late imperial China. As Beata Grant argues, gentry
women and Buddhist nuns visited each other and became chanyou WM, appreciating
both Chan and poetry together, and their friendship was very close to the male literati's
mutual literary exchanges.
6. Educational Journeys
As noted earlier, one important reason that travel was traditionally seen as a
necessity for men was because men needed to enlarge their scope of knowledge and
spread their reputation. For example, numerous disciples traveled from faraway places to
meet Confucius as a teacher; it is said that Confucius had three thousand disciples among
which seventy-two were accomplished students. 25 Beginning in the seventeenth century,
women began to join poetry clubs in the same way, following one or several teachers on
a larger scale. Women's shishe |#? (poetry clubs) and groups of female students
following a certain male teacher were the new phenomena of this period.

252

"Fang Huang Jieling bu yu," in Wang, Mingyuan shiwei, 26.lib.

253

Beata Grant, "Chan Friends: Poetic Exchanges between Gentry Women and Buddhist Nuns in
Seventeenth-Century China" (unpublished MS, forthcoming). According to my research, Daoist nuns also
joined the fashion of visiting gentry female friends. See Huang Dezhen's fiWt> M. (17*-c), "To the Melody
of 'Female Daoist:' Visiting a Female Daoist" 'tcM'f, I6^CJM#, in Xu Naichang, comp., Guixiu cichao

254

"Kongzi shijia" ? L f *&M, in Sima Qian W]IJS (145-85BC), Shiji 1 2 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju,
2000), 47.1560.

106

Women's poetry clubs expanded from the seventeenth century to the nineteenth
century, centered in the Jiangnan cultural center, and then moved beyond. In the
seventeenth century, the "Banana Garden Poetry Club" (Jiaoyuan shishe HHI#?)
under the leadership of Gu Zhiqiong M^JS. (fl. second half of the 17th-c.) emerged in
Hangzhou. 255 Its members were mainly from the same neighborhood and some of them
were relatives. Those who participated in the club activities often accompanied each
other on excursions:
At that time, the fashions in Wulin [Hangzhou]were lavish and extravagant. On
mild spring days when the scenery was bright, the painted boats and embroidered
tents by the [West] Lake would compete with each other for brilliance. [The
women] with their bright earrings and kingfisher-feather headdresses, pearly locks,
and "cricket" gauzes, would vie to blind each other with their blazing spendor.
The only exception would be Jixian [Chai Jingyi], who would be accompanied in
her small boat by such eminent ladies as Feng Youling, Qian Yunyi, Lin Yaqing
and Gu Qiji [Si]. Dressed in white skirts and with their hair done up simply, they
would take up their brushes and divide up sheets of paper [for writing poems on
the occasion]. As soon as the partying women on the neighboring boats would
catch sight of them, they would lower their heads and hesitate, deeply ashamed
that they did not measure up to them.

M M r , iM.mmm, M S M , xmrnm, ^mmmwm, *

mmm, ra^= mmmm^m, iwmx^, mmm^ 5t> 2mmm%
-xu, mmmm, g f ^ i . ^ M M J L umtmm, &M*R. 56
In the eighteenth century, the Clear Creek Poetry Club (Qingxi shishe }ff MJ^tt)
arose in Suzhou under the leadership of Zhang Yunzi "jSjtjUi (fl. 18th-c). In the
nineteenth century, poetry clubs continued to be popular. For example, in Jiangyin,
Jiangsu province, there was the Plum Blossom Poetry Club (Meihua shishe $|#:fvf ?).

255

Ko, Teachers, 234-37.

256

Quoted in Shi Shuyi M M ! , Guochao guige shiren zhenglue HU(5Haf AWfe (Taibei: Tailian
guofeng chubanshe, 1970), 129. The translation is from Idema and Grant, Red Brush, All.

107

257

During this period, if not earlier, women's poetry clubs also spread outside the

Jiangnan area formally or informally. In the suburb of Chengdu, Zuo Xijia, a Changzhou
poet who moved to Sichuan, started the Washing Flower Poetry Club (Huanhua shishe m

mm25*
In the eighteenth century, the male poet Yuan Mei accepted around fifty female
disciples to discuss poetry, which became a model for later literati.

Their group

interactions mainly took place through shihui W H" (poetry gatherings). There were three
major poetry gatherings in Hangzhou and Suzhou between Yuan Mei and his female
disciples. Yuan Mei would travel to the gathering place and invite the local gentry
women to come to his residence and discuss poetry. For example, in the winter of 1792,
Yuan Mei stopped in Hangzhou and started his second gathering with local women. The
activity included discussing and composing poems, appreciating the scenery along the
northern hills and enjoying the banquets. The Prefect also provided the material support
for this gathering of you (wandering, excursions) and you (friends of poetry). 260

257

Chen Yunlian's poem "Meihua shishe yong Haiguang si h a i t a n g " | ^ B t t t i K # i : ) f c # # i ^ " shows a
club activity of traveling to a temple, appreciating and composing poems on the crab apple flowers.
Xinfangge shicao, 4.22b.
258

Zuo Xijia, "Huanhua shishe ge" 'StVcM^kMk, in Lengyinxianguan shigao, 6.17a/b. Also see Zuo Xijia's
daughter Zeng Yi's 'g'M "Huanhua shishe ge" ^ f t f f ttSfc, in Zeng, Guhuanshiji SW.S.M (1907), 1.5b,
1.6a.
259

There are debates about how many female disciples Yuan Mei accepted. For a comprehensive
discussion of various scholarly opinions, see Liuxi Meng, "Qu Bingyun (1767-1810): One Member of
Yuan Mei's Female Disciple Group," Ph.D. diss. (University of British Columbia, 2003), 84-88. Later in
the nineteenth century, Chen Wenshu who admired Yuan Mei very much also accepted female disciples,
called "Bicheng nu dizi" i f Wcicl=S-p.
260

Yuan Mei, Suiyuan shihua buyi

ffiHstlSMiS,

5.7b, in Suiyuan quanji, vol. 6.

108

Association with the poetry clubs and traveling to the poetry gatherings also
helped female disciples shape their identities as poets. One of Yuan Mei's disciples, Luo
Qilan (1755-1813), expressed such a feeling in the following poem:
All the relatives, full of tears, try to delay my carriage,
They pity me for traveling far alone.
They do not need to repeatedly tell me to take care of myself,
Poets have been leaving home since ancient times.

^mrmzmm, MA&ftmmmo261
In this poem, Luo Qilan does not consider leaving home and traveling as a particularly
sad event, because she perceives herself as a poet. This poet identity transforms the
unfortunate trip of a lonely woman into an ambitious poet's educational journey of the
sort that has been going on for centuries.
Women poets inherited the tradition of male literati who took long or short trips
of learning to broaden their horizon and to learn poetry composition from others, male or
female. The literary fashion of women writing poems supported by various communities,
family-oriented or friend-oriented, helped women establish the poetic identities of a poet
which weakened their gender anxiety, blurring the inner/outer boundary. They were
poets first, and women second.
7. Crossing the Regional and National Borders
One of the important characteristics of women's poems from the eighteenth
through the nineteenth centuries is that they reflect a greater geographical and poetic
range. Wang Zhenyi 3 i | | f | i and Cai Wan H M , for example, were two women poets

Luo, Tingqiuxuan shiji H ^ C f F t t H (1795), 4.16b.

109

who traveled widely inside China. They went to many less-travelled places, and their
poems touch upon the unqiue local landscapes and cultures.
Wang Zhenyi (1768-1797), zi Deqing 5EP, was born in Nanjing, Jiangsu
province, and gave herself the style name Jiangning Niishi ZL^^k$l. Wang Zhenyi's
grandfather Wang Zhefu 3 i # | f (d. 1776) lost his job as Prefect of Xuanhua rn.it (in
present-day Hebei province), and was banished to Jilin llf # . After her grandfather died,
she went with her family to Jilin for the funeral. It was a long journey from the Jiangnan
area to the Jilin area, and she stayed in Jilin for about five years. This journey, while it
was undertaken primarily for familial reasons, became a great opportunity for Wang
Zhenyi to expand both her knowledge and her poetic skills. On the way from Jiangnan to
Jilin, she visited many places and wrote poems about them. In her poem "Guo Huanghe"
iSPCM (Crossing the Yellow River), she wrote:
The morning sun rises out of the waves,
The wind urges a little boat forward.
Geographically the river leads to the sea,
Towards the sky, it hooks the rivers.
An ancient temple faces the dangerous sands,
The sacred crow flies to passers-by.
The fish adds to the splendid view,
The vastness opens my eyes with surprise.

mummm, M,m-mfto
-&mmm, #atiRjg&.262
The fifth and sixth lines give a similar picture that the Song poet Fan Chengda vividly described in his
travel account Wuchuan lu ^)ISf: "The temple has tame crows. When a passenger boat approaches, the
crows go out several /*' to meet it. Some [fly] all the way to the county seat. And, after the boat passes by,
the crows accompany it for several li. People throw cakes and tidbits into the air, which the crows catch
with their open beaks, never missing a single one. Locals call them 'Divine Crows;' they also call them
'Welcoming-the-Boats Crows'." HWfUSt, %ft$M,
B ' j a S t f t M i ^ b ^ S M U T . *&&*
M.. A&fflmm^,
# ! * # & , * 5 f c - , AWZnm,
^mZm^m.
Fan, Wuchuanlu,m
Wenyuange siku quanshujuan xia, 10a. The English translation is from Hargett, Riding the River Home,
138.

110

Mm&m,

MMB$.

263

In this poem, Wang Zhenyi demonstrates not only the sensitivity of a poet, but also the
curiosity and observation of a scholar and a scientist. It is not surprising she wrote down
a very detailed observation while crossing the Yellow River. The second two lines
describe the geographical connections between the Yellow River and its surrounding
areas. In this poem, Wang focuses on the boundless and dangerous views across the
River as well as facing such a stirring view which she thought really "opened her eyes
with surprise."
Wang 's journey to Jilin, in fact, reflected a unique migration pattern of the Qing
dynasty, since Jinlin was the home area of the Manchu conquerors. In Jilin, there were a
great variety of ethnic groups and economic developments which were different from the
Jiangnan area.264 Being able to live in both the Jiangnan and Jilin areas no doubt gave
Wang access to two essential cultural sources in the Qing dynasty: Han and Manchu.
While in Jilin, she studied various skills including women's work, writing prose and
poetry, archery and riding:
I remember in the past I have traveled through mountains and seas,
Three rivers and five mountains, fast, I try to climb.
My feet covered thousands of li, and I read a thousandywan of books,
I once compared my ambition to a kind that is even stronger than a
man.
To the west, I came out of Lintong, to the east to the Heishui,
Riding a horse to urge the carriage, I was thrilled in childhood.
Also I learned archery and riding,
I was too shy to make up to match my love for riding.

263

Wang, Defengting chuji tSM-fHSUft (1916), 10.10b, http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/mingqing/english/.

264

Feng Er'kang S U H i , Qingren shenghuo manbu 'MA4 Si ift/^ (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui chubanshe,
1999), 165-93.

Ill

M i m m i t , mmnmmmBo265
Going to the northern frontier to experience the unrestrained non-Han culture and
experiencing various views on the way, Wang Zhenyi developed a strong will different
from other gentry women who did not step out of the inner quarters. The younger sister
of another poet Hu Shenrong ^fjliSr (fl. 18th-c.) once wrote to Wang, arguing that her
poems were full of strength, conciseness, and the attempt for fineness, but lacking in the
style of the inner quarters. To explain her poetic style, Wang Zhenyi wrote back:
I have traveled east to the Shanhai Pass, and west to the Lintong Pass. I passed
Wu, Chu, Yan and Yue, covering several thousands of//. The mountains and
rivers on the way were beautiful and enough to broaden my horizon. Therefore,
when my personality became relaxed, I did not feel it. I just wrote without trying
to be strong or concise and having no time to consider elegance or roughness. As
for losing the flavor of the inner quarters, I purposefully tried to avoid this
woman's style.... Alas, having the style of elaboration but forgetting comparison,
remembering the Odes but forgetting the Elegance, lacking the four beginnings
and six rites, I precisely intended to avoid these shortcomings of the inner quarters
and regret if I still have them.

% i ^mmmtt, ^mm^rnm,
m^mmta^* immvxMm,
266
jE&m^mimmzmB
It would appear, then, that Wang Zhenyi's travel experience directly influenced her
poetic style and distinguished her from women poets who focused on writing in the inner
quarters.

Wang, "Ti nil zhong zhangfu tu"@^C^3t^H, Defengting chuji, 12.20a/b,12.21a.

' Wang, "Da Hu Shenrong furen'^SJitlW^ A , in Defengting chuji, 4.9b, 4.1 Oa/b, 4.1 la.

112

Cai Wan's H$& (fl. 1694) background as a general's daughter and her travel to
the old sites of her father enriched her huaigu tUl^(remembering the past) poems from
elaborating on history as a bystander to lamenting on a personal heroic history as one part
of it. Cai Wan, zi Jiyu ^ 3 was a native of Liaoyang MM (in present-day Shenyang M
Pf, Liaoning M^ province). Her father, Cai Yurong UtaH* (d. 1699), was an
accomplished general who was assigned to suppress rebels, including Wu Sangui ^ j H f t
(1612-1678) in Yunnan U"^f. After proclaiming Qing military control of Yunnan, he
became the first governor (1682) until his banishment in 1686. Cai Yurong's life consists
of both glory and tragedy. Because of his military successes, especially in the battles
against Wu Sangui's army in 1679 he was given the title General of Pacifying the
Remote Place %M.$j-W- by the Kangxi emperor. Ironically, it is said that precisely
because of his unwise decision of taking Wu Sangui's granddaughter as his concubine,
accepting bribes, and attempting to hide these mistakes, he was removed from Yunnan
and banished to Heilongjiang HfltE province. According to Cai Wan's poem, her father
eventually became a Buddhist monk at Temple of Nine Peaks, Zhejiang province.267
Cai Wan was married to the famous general Gao Qizhuo M^W (1676-1738)
who held many important official positions in Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Jiangsu,

267

Qin Shucai HfSf;t, "Cai Yurong yu Qingchu Yunnan z h i l u a n " ^ ! ^ ! ^ ^ ! ! P & v & i L Yunnan jiaoyu
xueyuan xuebao B p l i f c W ^ I ^ ^ 15, no. 1(1999): 32-37. Cai Wan's poem "Jiufeng si" jlt&3?,
Qingshijishi Jjf j^FiKHf, vol. 22, Lienujuan ?|J^C#, ed. Qian Zhonglian HK'f'lS? (Nanjing: Jiangsu guji
chubanshe, 1989),15714.

113

Jiangxi, and Hubei.

Cai Wan traveled with her husband, and his official posts took the

couple to the old battlefields of Cai's father:

South of Yunnan was the old place for my diseased father's post. Forty years
later, I followed my husband to Yunnan and witnessed the old places that still
existed, and my father's tomb grew old grass. Thinking about today and recalling
the past, sadly I had some feelings, and therefore was able to write eight lines to
record my pain of remembering him.

A i i f H f ^ . &HHfrSr, mmm,

H?#AH^,

mmm.&z&o269

The eight poems Cai Wan composed are in the form of huaigu poems, and reflect her
feelings when gazing on the old battlefields where her father once served as general:
Chenlong JUti Pass, Locking MM Peak, Iron-lock | i j | Bridge, Jiangxi $Xf Slope,
Nine Peak f\Jik Temple, Parrot H i t Peak, Yunnan U S Slope and Ye jH Temple.
Because of her father's experience, these poems serve not only as the records of historical
past, but also as accounts (and memories) of her father's personal history:
Chenlong Pass
Climbing the peak, in danger, I feel lost,
The pass is quiet, locked in the cold mist.
The old general grows snow-like white hair on his head,
The battlefield of autumn has turned into a field outside the city walls.
I heard that thousands of soldiers once followed the general on horseback,
Once in the sixth month a flying hawk fell down.
The soldiers' tears shed on the remaining part of the tombstone,
Covered by moss and dirt, this history has been sealed for forty years.

mm
268

Gao Qizhuo took the position as Governor of Yunnan and Guizhou twice during 1722-1725 and 17311733. See Zhou Qiongffltig.,"Gao Qizhuo zhen dian li zhi sixiang chutan"M^&&M^.%iMM%JM,
Sixiang zhanxian M-WM%& 28, no. 5 (2002): 101-04.
269

Cai, "Shi xu" Wf, in Qian, Qingshijishi?n%$fM, vol. 22, 15712.

114

gmmmmwrn, w*&&fens+. 27
To explicitly mention her father's activities as a general required considerable courage on
Cai Wan's part, because, after all, her father was banished by the emperor. In her poems,
she portrayed herself as an orphan after the war: "In the wind, I shed tears as an orphan,/1
cannot see the later generations who can match his ambition" EiUil,MMjnL^ ^>JLM
M ^ H A- "How can he know how sad I am upon seeing his tombstone, /it remains there
for the orphan to see in tears"M&WJhfi>l>i|i,

^^M^M^M211

Her eight poems

are a combination of the theme of huaigu and siqin. Cai Wan's travels are made possible
by her husband's official duties, and her poems on her journeys are directly linked to her
father's military ups and downs. Greatly influenced by the men in her life, her poems
convey messages of extensive geographical extent (from Liaoning, the north to Yunnan,
the southwest, from Yunnan to Heilongjiang, the north and then to Zhejiang, the
southeast) and historical significance for a dynasty and a family, providing a useful
source for studying the politics and Yunnan culture at the Ming-Qing transition.
There were two significant changes relevant to women travelers in the late Qing.
First, women's scope of mobility was further expanded to foreign lands, as some women
obtained opportunities to travel abroad. Second, foreign travel was made possible by the
multiple identities of women as a diplomat's wife, journalist or revolutionary.
Shan Shili W-M (1856-1943), zi Shouzi g&,

was a native of Xiaoshan Mlij,

Zhejiang. In 1899, as the wife of the diplomat Qian Xun UttJ (1853-1922), she traveled
270

Ibid., 15713.

271

Ibid., 15715.

115

abroad as one of the first few educated Chinese women to do so. Shan Shili's act of
traveling around the world with bound feet vividly embodied the interaction between old
China and the modern world at the end of the nineteenth century. Shan Shili was the first
woman traveler to step out of the national border and wrote two influential travel
accounts: "Guimao liixing ji"HFPlife?Tf2 (Travel accounts of the year of Guimao, 1903)
272

and Gui qian ji Ulyff 12 (Journal in retirement). The first travel account is about her

travel experience in Japan and Russia, and the latter is about her journey to Europe and
America. In 1899, Shan followed her husband to Japan. She could speak Japanese and
seemed to get used to the Japanese life without much problem. As Hu Ying points out,
Shan Shili revised the traditional concept of home as a stable place, because for her,
"home is where the traveler is." 273 Shan Shili not only wrote some travel narratives, but
left some poems about her foreign travels in her poetry collection Shouzishi shigao S H
S l # ^ l (The poem manuscripts from Shouzi's Room). 274 One of her poems goes as
follows:
The immortal carriage made of clouds has never been real,
Surprisingly the trolley never loses its way.
Driven by electricity and steam, it is safe and fast,
And the little wheelbarrow isn't necessary
for crossing the creek ahead.

See Widmer's study on Shan Shili's travel journal, "Foreign Travel."

Hu, "Re-configuring Nei/Wai," 88-90.
Shan, Shouzi shi shigao (Changsha: Hunan wenyi chubanshe, 1986).

116

mm&mmmm*275
In this poem, Shan uses the legendary and historical allusions in Chinese traditional
culture to articulate her unexpected joy of discovering the modern trolley. The immortal
carriage is said to be fast, but it is unreal; the one-wheel cart only stands for a difficult
life of a hermit couple. The comparison between the traditional and the modern
emphasizes the modern material progress in Japan, focusing on the technical power of
enabling the impossible and overcoming the hardship of traveling.
Just like Shan Shili who dealt with both the traditional and the foreign at the same
time, Lii Bicheng SH^(1883-1943), a famous poet at the end of the Qing dynasty, used
classical poetry to compose poems about her extensive trips to Europe and America in the
early twentieth century. Grace S. Fong argues that "Lii Bicheng also brought an entirely
new dimension of meaning to women's travel by setting out to see the world on her own,
for her own interest and adventure, and not as a companion to a scholar-official husband,
or as part of a family entourage that included mothers and daughters, or as wife to a
diplomat." 276 In this sense, Lii pushed Shan's style even further to a more independent
level for women. Lii made a living by writing for newspapers and magazines in China.
In 1926, as a journalist for Shibao B#$5, a Shanghai newspaper, she went to America to
study and socialize. In 1927, she began her extensive travel through Switzerland, France,
Italy, Austria, and Germany, staying in Europe for seven years. 277

275

Shan, "Xie fuzi you Xianggen (chujian dianche)" j g ^ f i i f f f l ! (%lMiV>M), in Shan, Shouzishi shigao,
24. For the wanlu allusion, see the story of the wife of Bao Xuan, in "Bao Xuan qi" ffifiS, Lienii zhuan
Micfe, in Fan Ye fW, Hon Honshu U S U I (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2000), 84.1879.
276

Fong, "Alternative Modernities," 59.

277

See Fong's discussion of Lii Bicheng's travel experience in her article "Alternative Modernities," 12-59,
esp. 43-59.

117

The scope and style of her European trips are very similar to the Grand Tour
popular among the wealthiest during the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries in the West:
The Grand Tour was a convention of the high-middle and upper classes; it
flourished between the time of the Restoration, in 1660, and the arrival of mass
rail travel around 1825. By the second and third quarters of the eighteenth century
the Grand Tour was well established. 278
The major purpose of the Grand Tour was traveling throughout the European continent
for "developing the mind and accumulating knowledge." 279 In China, at the turn of the
twentieth century, most elite women were still not encouraged to step outside their house,
not to mention traveling to a foreign land, but at the same time, China was also
experiencing a series of social changes and cultural transformations with the introduction
of Western civilization. Under such circumstances, Lu Bicheng's Grand Tour carried
even more significance: her act of "developing the mind and accumulating knowledge"
was not only a big step for herself, but also symbolized progress for Chinese women and
the nation. In the case of poetry, she enriched classical poetry with the brand-new topic of
Western landscapes. At one of her favorite scenic spots in the Alps of Switzerland, she
wrote:
In Europe, among the snowy mountains, the Alps are the highest; what ranks the
second is Mount Blanc whose branches are icy mountains. The rest are as green
as usual, but extremely stiff. Travelers must take the flying carriage Teleferique
which is hanging on the electric wire and sweeping past the sky. Among the East
Asian women who write a lyric song to wish the long life of the mountain god,
will I be the first?
Delaying and standing. I sweep away the moss and write on the stone, trying to
start music to discuss China and measure the ancient and the modern. I suddenly
realize the shortness of a life. Today I face a green mountain, but previously it
was covered with snow, and other times it will be brown earth. For the time being,

Fussell, Norton Book ofTravel, 130.

118

let us prove that we are destined to meet beyond the mundane; I look forward to
meeting you, the mountain god.

mmibwmi&MMM, &mmkz, ^Hfoj, mmmi;,

ummm, mm>&mMM Teieferique, ^mn, S S M ^ T . n c s & ^ e

280

As I have mentioned, in the Chinese poetic tradition, there is a popular theme

called climbing the heights. Lii Bicheng climbed the highest mountain in the West not by
foot (bound feet), bamboo sedan, donkey or horse, but by the modern transportation
system teieferique which she called the flying carriage. The introduction of such a
Western view and means of transportation immediately adds a fresh element to the
traditional genre. If seen from the perspective of youxian poetry, the teieferique finally
realizes women's dream of flying in the sky! The traveling space is stretched from the
Chinese land which had been frequently under poetic construction throughout history to a
foreign land which was witnessed by a Chinese woman for the first time. Yet in the last
section, the tone suddenly calms down, focusing on a peaceful dialogue between ancient
Chinese culture and Western wisdom. In the poem, as an Eastern representative, the
woman poet conducts a dialogue with the mountain god in the Chinese way:
communicating through poetry. The uniqueness of this communication is that she is not
writing from the inner quarters of China, but in a huge "room" on the Alps; she is using
the Chinese poetic form to communicate with a foreign god, trying to become a best
280

Lii, "Po zhen l e " l | ^ , Yimo chunhen meng li shouLu Bicheng shici zhushi VfMW^MJ& S I t
WSfM&M, annotated by Li Baomin ^"SR; (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2004), 127.

119

friend who understands the other. This is a journey of self-positioning the woman traveler
as a hero in climbing the heights. Here the symbolic meaning of climbing the heights
comes in several layers: first, she takes the teleferique up to the highest mountain in the
West; second, she feels very proud of herself as the first East Asian woman to have done
this; third, she positions herself into a large space where poetry transcends national
borders to be understood by the Western mountain god. Such multiple communications
are not conducted through any magnificent rituals, but through a private mental dialogue.
Suddenly, the interaction between East and West becomes a peaceful dialogue rather than
a stirring clash, as if the connections were made in a previous life in the Buddhist sense
of karma.281
Lii Bicheng's good friend Qiu Jin %kM. (1875-1907), who died as a revolutionary
in men's clothes, was often considered the most radical Chinese feminist of her day. She
contributed her life to Chinese revolutions against the Manchu rule, but the few of her
kind lacked support at the beginning of the century; she hoped to find some help from
Japan who had successfully overthrown the imperial rule. In 1904, she wrote "A Song of
Crossing Eastern Sea" ("Fan Donghai ge"&^$D0:
Flying to the sky, I ride a white dragon,
Running in the mountain, I ride a strong tiger.
The wind and clouds came into being,
The spirits are flying in the four corners.
It is a shame that my strength is too lonely,
And the talented cannot help.
For this reason, I will cross the Eastern Sea,
281

Karma refers to the cause-effect theory in Buddhism. The destinations are determined in one's previous
life. Shengqing Wu argues that the Alps gives Lii "masculine" energy to gain a powerful heroic style that
stresses "intensity, explosiveness, or sublimity." See her article, '"Old Learning and the Refeminization of
Modern Space in the Lyric Poetry of Lii Bicheng," Modern Chinese Literature and Culture 16, no.l (2006):
30-46.

120

Hoping to get help from the brave men.

soften, ^ajj^s^o
m2-?m, 2s#a.282
The poems of Qiu Jin and others show that towards the end of the nineteenth
century and the beginning of the twentieth century, the purpose of women poets' travel
explicitly went beyond family interest, and focused on personal growth and social
networking, often linked to national interest.
From fulfilling family responsibilities to cultivating friendship for individual
growth, from being constrained inside the boudoir to crossing the domestic, local,
national and international boundaries, Chinese women's poems on travel show increasing
desire for and action of "movement" in social sphere, which in turn greatly stimulated
their poetic creations, challenging gender boundaries at multiple levels.

282

In Guo Zhen ?|Sffl, Man yun nilzi bu yingxiongQiu Jin shici zhuping
If (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2004), 72.

121

M^i^'T^f^M%(M.WfMti.

C h a p t e r Three R e c u m b e n t Travel: W o m e n ' s Re-inscription of a Male

Literati Tradition
The Debate on Women's Mobility and Poetry Writing
A male literatus normally had a choice of whether or not to engage in recumbent
travel. Or, if like Zong Bing, he resorted to recumbent travel because of illness or old age,
it was often after a lifetime of actual physical journeys. For women, however, who were
not expected to leave the confines of the inner quarters, and whose movement outside
was limited to certain very restricted occasions, such as leaving their natal home to go to
that of their new husband, things were not so simple. It is well recognized that travels
were essential for male literati's self-development. The debate, however, rose about
whether "seeing" was equally important for writing women. Zhong Xing (1574-1624),
the compiler of women's poetry anthology Mingyuan shigui ^itSMM

(Selections of

poems by famous ladies) enthusiastically advocated women's writings. In his efforts to

elevate female literary talent, he argued:
A man will have to rely on travels through the four directions in order to
know the four directions. Just think of Yu Shiji [d.618] and his
Descriptions of the Ten Commanderies [Shijun zhi\. he had to
catalogue all the mountains and rivers before he was able to paint
the mountains and rivers; he had to catalogue all the prefectures
and districts before he was able to paint these prefectures and districts;
he had to catalogue all the walls and moats before he was able to paint the
official buildings. But women are different. Lying in their beds
they can see villages and districts, and in their dreams they can visit
the border passes. This is all because of their purity.

^mmmijzm, miamis. tmnmm + , tajjn#i

Zhong, Mingyuan shigui, preface. Idema and Grant, Red Brush, 351-52.

122

Zhong Xing claims that women's unique "internal talent"pure imaginationenables

them to write good poems about the external world without traveling. Such a seemingly
high evaluation which positions women's writing in a vacuum justifies their NeoConfucian space of the inner quarters, indicating that recumbent travel is the best and
only choice for women. In this case, the so-called pure imagination makes travel
unnecessary or even negative for women. However, after establishing this theory Zhong
Xing does not explain why women were able to imagine places they have never seen.
Since he emphasizes the necessity of men to travel and record, he might indicate that
women only need to stay at home and imagine based on the paintings or texts created by
traveling men.
Gao Bingjiu ]6j$}i!l(fl. mid-191 cen.), who authored a preface for the woman
poet Ling Zhiyuan's poetry collection, apparently recognized the link between
women's limited physical space and the limitations of their writing styles:
Physically confined to the inner quarters, women have no way to
travel around and witness the extraodinary that enables one to compose
excellent works as mighty as a whale and a blue sea. Instead, they can
only compose some delicate and decorated words, such as those who are
truly ambitious would not bother with.

w, wm&m^MMZ..284
Unlike Zhong Xing who emphasized women's purity as the single essential element
for poetry, Gao Bingjiu felt sorry for the limitations female literati faced because of
their narrow domestic space. Yet not surprisingly, neither of them encouraged women
to break through these social boundaries in order to pursue such literary ambitions,

284

Gao, "Preface," in Ling, Cuiluoge shicigao.

123

since both no doubt subscribed to the accepted view that for a woman, composing
poetry was always secondary to her domestic responsibilities.
Women, however, did not always consider their poetry writing to be secondary.
The Ming woman poet Liang Mengzhao M^L^B (fl. mid-16 th -c), for instance, focused on
the connection between women's restricted mobility and the limitations of their literary
style:
It is more difficult for those of us in the inner chambers to write poems than
it is for sophisticated gentlemen and penpushers. A [male] poet can indulge
himself in mountains and streams, and once he has a broad experience of
the world, he feels no inhibitions when chanting his words and discussing
the affairs [of the world]. For this reason the songs he voices often are
filled with an extraordinary and wide-ranging energy. The situation is
different from those of us in the inner chambers. Our feet do not cross our
thresholds, and our experience does not extend beyond our home villages.
Even if we are inspired, we still have to show decorum. When our texts are
unbridled, we offend against elegance. If even a writer like Zhu Shuzhen
was criticized on this account, how much more so those who are not her
equal! Even when singing of our nature and feelings, we are now allowed
to give free rein to our thoughts and speak our minds, but must express
ourselves in a soft and suggestive way. This sort of style, however, easily
slips into weakness. Poets esteem Li Bai and Du Fu as the greatest writers
who ever lived. But how would it be considered fitting for those of us in
the inner quarters to write with Li Bai's reckless abandon or with Du Fu's
strange density and tragic heroism?

n, mm, mmm mmm, mm*m. *.m&*&LMm.m, u

iio tmumMm, mzMm#M. tznmm, MHB5#TM?285
A similar situation influenced the field of painting as well. While a female painter was
expected to be "gentle and delicate" in character, these same characteristics in their

285

Quoted from Hua Wei J i , Ming Qingfunu zhi xiqu chuangzuo yupiping Bjyf M~kZ-$Z.fti'J^J^Jtfc
If (Taibei: Zhongyang yanjiuyuan Zhongguo wenzhe yanjiusuo, 2003), 42. The translation is from Idema
and Grant, Red Brush, 354.

124

paintings would rate them second class.

This dilemma in the field of poetry and

painting creates an embarrassing situation, that is, women cannot produce art of a high
level. Therefore, in order to be excellent at art, women have to step outside to achieve
the broader horizons like a male traveler as well as change their artistic style to the
"masculine."
Liang Mengzhao was clearly trying to articulate her realization of the unfair male
construction of female space and feminine writing style. If the wider world was the center
in the male-dominated system, being confined to the inner quarters means the
marginalization of women. If a bold and wide-ranging literary style is defined as being
superior by men, the "soft and suggestive" style assigned to women automatically results
in yet another kind of marginalization for women poets. Liang proposed to break the
physical limitation of the inner quarters, to move from the marginal to the center of the
male order. She believed that such a move would directly lead to the literary style
change from weak to strong. In her poem "Setting Sail at Dawn on the Yangzi," she
wrote: "My heart feels as if it has stretched out a million acres wide: / These beautiful
thoughts I'll entrust to my brush to express" # # I S M i H M ,

#Jgflt;rf f * f i .

Facing the grand view on the Yangzi River, both her character and her poem seemed to
have become "masculine."
In another poem, she writes:
Filled with Emotions

286

Ellen Johnson Laing, "Women Painters in Traditional China," in Flowering in the Shadows: Women in
the History of Chinese and Japanese Painting, ed. Marsha Weidner (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press,
1990), 93.
287

"Xiaofa Changjiang"^^-Rfll, in Wang, Mingyuan shiwei, 12.2b. Idema and Grant, Red Brush, All.

125

In my yearning for nature's scenes, I set out on this journey;

On the boundless misty river, we moor the boat for the night.
The new moon only knows it's grand to be beyond the clouds,
She does not mean to move us to sorrow by waxing and waning.

mmmmtm, ^ M A S = 288
The most unconventional image is the new moon. Traditionally, women's poems were
limited to the subjects of "wind, moon and flowers" as observed from within the inner
quarters, and this in turn was used as proof of the mediocrity of women's poetry.
However, Liang Mengzhao's image of the moon shakes off the sorrow popularly attached
to it. "The waxing and waning" points to the possibility of happiness as well as sorrow,
and there is a more optimistic world "beyond the clouds." She encourages women to
fulfill their desire for travelstepping out of the old observation sites (boudoir windows
or small courtyards) to discover their own moon in the wilds, a moon unshadowed by the
dark clouds of social constructions. Unlike Zhong Xing and Gao Bingjiu's passive
acceptance of biological and gender difference, Liang Mengzhao emphasizes the
common principles for writing, no matter whether the writer is a man or woman.
Liang Mengzhao's strategy represents a key point for women's travel and poetry
writing: positioning a writing woman in the traditional role of a male literatus despite the
biological differences and the corresponding social limitations imposed on women.
Recumbent travel, the symbolic/mind travel that crosses the boundaries of inner and
outer, becomes an important means by which women can, at least in their imagination,
assume the role of the literati male and in so doing broaden their horizons and achieve

288

Wang, Mingyuan shiwei, 12.1b. Idema and Grant, Red Brush, All.

126

excellence in poetry writing, even while remaining within the male order. The Qing
woman poet Gu Taiqing's poem "Jiao chuang du hua" H W B M * (Viewing a painting in
front of my window next to the banana plant) vividly testifies to such an active
interaction between recumbent travel, literary and visual pleasures based on the male
literati tradition while physically remaining inside the boudoir:
The banana leaves split shadow on the green window screen,
Surrounded by books, I scrutinize some poems.
My old eyes examine the remote peaks and valleys in tranquility,
When I empty my mind, I see the line between water and cloud.
To find the source of a river, there should be a wellspring,
To compose a poem, one needs to discern the emotion behind it.
I perceive the profound intentions of the ancients,
The pleasure of recumbent travel will accompany me for the rest of my days.

EUg#@7&.

289

Making Use of the Travelers from Her Family

If fortunate, gentry women could learn about the outside world through their
family members who had traveling experiences. The great Ming traveler and explorer Xu
Hongzu's ^ ^ | . (1586-1641, hao Xiake iH^r, zi Zhenzhi $i^I) mother, Wang Ruren
289

This poem is in Zhang Zhang MM, comp., Gu Taiqing Yi Hui shici heji H$k%M^fe$kWfM'a$k, by Gu
Taiqing and Yi Hui (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1998), 159. In this version, twenty-seven
characters are missing. The complete poem, however, can be found in the edition of Gu Taiqing's poetry
collection Tianyougeji available in Japan. After comparing the two editions, Zhao Botao HfflK provided
the complete version of this poem. See Zhao, "Ri cang chaoben Tianyougeji" 0 W,$P& l^M&iM}
, in
Guji zhengli chuban qingkuangjianbao "StilfiStBlififW^MIK 11 (2005), http://www.guji.cn/opengjjb
.php?id=85. Also see Zhang Ming jUSSf, Kuangdai cainti Gu TaiqingBHfW"itHyfc:W (Beijing:
Beijing chubanshe, 2002), 92-93. See my discussion of Gu Taiqing in chap. 5.

127

JEMA

(1546-1625) was a case in point. Xu Hongzu traveled through less-explored areas,

and it was he who discovered the unique limestone topography in southwestern China.
Xu's career of traveling had much to do with his mother the year of whose death (1625)
can generally be taken as the link between the first and second parts of his traveling. It is
said that before 1625, his trips were short because he refused to leave his mother alone at
home for long. His long journeys to Beijing in the north, Shanxi ill 12? in the middle,
Fujian ?flt and Guangdong /ft j|C in the south, and Guizhou MJ'H and Yunnan f | $ j in
the southwest all occurred after Wang Ruren's death. 290 Wang Ruren wove cloth to
support the family financially. Understanding Xu's true interest in exploration, she urged
him to pursue his dream of traveling instead of pushing him to take the metropolitan
exams to become an official.
In various biographies and epitaphs, Xu Hongzu was depicted as a filial son for
his refusal to travel far when his mother was still alive. But his mother, on the other hand,
urged him to fulfill his ambition:
I am lucky to be healthy, and always had enough rice to give myself
nutrition. A man is born to target his ambition from four directions.
Traveling far, you can obtain extraodinary books and see extraordinary people. It
will not harm you in any case. Please don't worry about me.

^##, Wo ^T^mMmij, mmnmrn, HHA, M

In order to ensure her son that she was fine, at the age of eighty, Wang Ruren even
stepped out to travel with her son on excursions, trying to prove that she was healthy

290

Li, Zhongguo gudaijiyou, 339-42.

291

Dong Qichang i ^ a (1555-1636), "Ming gu Xu Yu'an yinjun ji pei Wang Ruren hezang muzhiming"
nMW&WLMMMMW>5.1KA^W:MM%, in Xu, Xu Xiakeyoujijuan 10, xia, 1254.

128

enough. Wang's positive attitude toward travel not only afforded support for her son, but
also nourished her own passion for travel. Xu Hongzu's elder brother recorded, "While
others feared when listening to the travel stories.. .she was not afraid, and on the contrary,
Mother was thrilled" ^ 4 A ^ i * # ,

#ii.292

It is unknown whether Wang Ruren wrote about travel; yet besides stepping
outside to travel with her son, she was also known to have vicariously traveled through
the paintings brought back by her son:
You go ahead to visit those places of interest. Then come back with some
paintings in your sleeves and show them to me one by one. Before your
travel ends, I will not miss you terribly, and will not die or become ill,
either. My grandson who was born in the year of rabbit can be here to be
my companion.

mm^mm, mm^a, m^n, * , ,

Her vicarious travel and Xu Hongzu's direct experience interacted and encouraged each
other in a harmonious way.
Women had easier access to written texts or paintings in late imperial China than
previously, which meant that even if they had to stay inside the inner quarters, they could
make use of recumbent travel to satisfy their desire for travel. In Chidu xinyu chubian ft
Wifi^lUlS (The preliminary collection of modern letters), a woman named Wu Bai ^
t@ (n^-c.) wrote a letter in reply to one written by her older sisterwho had been to the
Three Gorges on the Yangzi River on a journey with her husband for his new official

292

Chen Hanhui KiBSiS, "Xu Xiake xiansheng muzhiming" # l t 5 r j I l i , in Xu, XuXiakeyouji,

juan 10, xia, 1192-93.
293

Wang Siren , | f f , "Xu shi sanke zhuanji"^R;H"B]"fl!E, in Xu, XuXiakeyouji, juan 10, xia, 1259.

129

post.

In this letter, Wu imagines the Three Gorges as having been both dangerous and

splendid, and she asks her sister to send her a painting of them so that she could pay them
a vicarious visit. This exchange of letters shows how travel could promote female
communication about the outside world. Literati often portrayed Sichuan as a dangerous
place, but instead of being terrified by the thought of traveling to these places, Wu Bai
was thrilled by the danger:
It is my sister's heavenly destiny that brought you there. How envious I am, how
envious! Some ancient said that it was the regret of his life not to have been to
Yizhou, having visited all of the other eight zhous. What does my sister think of
this? If you wouldn't mind sending me some pictures, then your younger sister,
widowed in her quarters, can indulge herself as an armchair traveler.

wit., uitmuw mm^^M, mwrnrmmAfc,295

The thought of a dangerous place, in fact, increases her pleasure of recumbent
travel. In another letter to the same sister, Wu expresses her admiration (and envy) of her
sister's travels along the Yangzi and its tributaries, and describes the riverscapes as "the
dwellings of the transcendent." Wu Bai writes that her sister must be delighted to be able
to see these places with her own eyes.

Of course, vicarious travel meant not having to

put oneself in actual danger, and often recumbent travelers would create imaginary
landscapes that more closely resembled the world of transcendents. Still, just the thought

294

The Three Gorges refer to Gorge Qutang M^M, Wu M. and Xiling H l t t t along the Yangzi River. There
are numerous poems written by men on the Three Gorges since they have been very famous scenic spots
since ancient times. See Hou Changxu fil-flDl, comp., Sanxia shici daguan =m^MM~k.Wi (Chongqing:
Chongqing chubanshe, 2006).

295

Wu, "Ji Maojia zi" %^Wjfc, in Wang, Chidu xinyu chubian, 6.1 lb-12a. Jiuzhou flj'H refers to China.
The translation is from Ko, Teachers, 225.
296

This is another letter written by Wu Bai to Sister Mao. "Ji Maojia zi," in Wang, Chidu xinyu chubian,
6.10b-lla: This letter is also collected in Mingyuan chidu %xW.KWl, comp. Jingji Dongxuan ff R T ^ $ T
(Qing dyn.), 2.23a, http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/mingqing/english/.

130

of such a dangerous yet exciting journey could create a big stir in the cloistered domestic
life of an imaginative woman like Wu Bai.

Recumbent Travel: Zhang Wanying's Emotional and Intellectual Tie with Her
Husband
Zhang Wanying 3ft#l^ (ca. 1800-?), zi ^=r&f, was a native of Changzhou %j\\,
Jiangsu.297 She was married to the licentiate Wang Xi jEBii (d. 1847), a native of Taicang
~X.iS, Jiangsu. Since his childhood, Wang Xi traveled widely around China. Zhang
Wanying wrote:
My husband's family has lived in Taicang since the Ming dynasty. My late fatherin-law was always traveling and he died in Shaanxi when my husband was very
young, so my husband grew up as a dependent of my own father. Later, when my
father was holding office in Shandong, he arranged for my husband to enter our
family as a uxorilocally married son-in-law. After my father's death, my husband
sojourned for many years in Shandong, Anhui, and Zhejiang, unable to return to
his native place.

&mnmm, ttug*. Jtnn&m, SS^KM. ^jfm&ftmm, \&

n^mm^ibiL,
urns. ftm*&, m^mm^m, M H ^ W
298
m
Wang Xi came from an elite family whose origin can be traced back to the
aristocratic Wang family in Taiyuan~X.Win the Tang dynasty.299 However, the family

297

She was the fourth daughter of Zhang Qi 5ilf. Zhang Wanying's sisters Zhang Qieying, Zhang Xiying
and Zhang Lunying were also talented poets. Zhang Wanying's daughters Wang Caipin 3i%.M, Wang
Caifan 3i3RH and Wang Caizao JE3RH were poets too. Susan Mann's recent study reconstructs the life
story of these talented women from the Zhang family, and provides much useful information about this
outstanding case of the Jiangnan culture during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Mann, Talented
Women.
298
Zhang, "Nangui jicheng"pgffji@, in Canfengguan wenji chubian *&W>M'XWg}fa (1850), 1.30a.
The English translation is from Mann, "Virtue of Travel," 65.
299

Mann, Talented Women, 112.

131

members' rivalry drove Wang Xi out of his own family, and so he had to live with Zhang
Wanying's family throughout his childhood. Wang Xi's early travels were
accompanying Zhang Wanying's father Zhang Qi to his official positions; then in later
years, his own travels were for the sake of enhancing learning, taking examinations, and
looking for jobs. Wang Xi traveled for many years and Wanying stayed at home taking
care of the family. He wrote poems about his trips, and sometimes Wanying wrote back,
trying to see and feel what Wang Xi had seen on the way. In other words, Wanying's
poems were about her imagined trips based on her husband's poetic description of his
own journeys. Her younger brother Zhang Yaosun jjHRSJ^ juxtaposed the couple's
poems when he compiled her poetry collection Linyun youyue zhiju shi chugao $fftH^
B i.J^M$]$h (The preliminary poetry manuscripts from the Residence of the
Neighboring Clouds and the Befriending Moon). The fact that we can see the couple's
poems together today is also partly because her sister Zhang Qieying, also an
accomplished poet, preserved the manuscripts. These poems reflect a companionate
marriage between Zhang Wanying and Wang Xi. 30
One year, Wang Xi visited Tiger Hill, a famous scenic spot in Suzhou, and Zhang
Wanying wrote a poem to match his rhyme:
In the Rhyme of My Husband's Poem on Tiger Hill
Dark green moss embellishes the water of the Sword Pond,
For thousands of years, the Gusu Terrace stands still.
A lonely guest climbs high to play the jade flute,
Light green leaves gently shower his garment.

132

mm&ftvk^n, - ^ 5 3 0 1
The Sword Pond, located at Tiger Hill in the suburb of northwest Suzhou (in present-day
Jiangsu province), is said to be the tomb of Helu KUi (r. 514BC-496 BC), the King of
the state of Wu302 where the King's precious swords were also buried. The Gusu Terrace,
tall and splendid, which was built in Helu's time, is located at the Lingyan Mjic Hill in
the southwest of Suzhou.303 In this poem, Zhang Wanying uses Sword Pond and the Gusu
Terrace to mark the journey of her husband. The focus on historical allusions together
with the strong imaginative element of the immortal playing the flute distinguish her
poem from her husband's original poem. Unlike Zhang Wanying's, Wang Xi's poem is
based on an actual journey304 in contrast to recumbent travel:
Vast and boundless, thousands of trees look like a gathering of moss,
The heaven built this terrace for Gusu [Suzhou].
After forty-one years, today, for the first time, I finally came here,
The mountain god should laugh at me for coming so late. I have passed this
mountain seven times and today for the first time I finally climbed up.

H i 4 ^ 6 3 , Llj#JffJI3ico &ifijfciijB-fc4#gf.

301

305

Zhang, Linyun youyue (1825), 2.1a/b.

302
Helu is also named Helii M |M. For Helu's story, see Sima, "Wu Taibo shijia d i y i ' ^ ^ f l t t t l i C S I - , in
Shiji, 31.1221-42, esp. 1233-37.
303

The two poems indicate that the visitor is climbing the Tiger Hill, viewing the Gusu Terrace in the
distance. For details on the Tiger Hill, Sword Pond and Gusu Terrace, see Sima, Shiji, 1237; Jiang Kang M
M, "Hu Qiu, Guanwa Gong" A J x - t M g , in Wenshi zhishi j t i f c l l t 5 (1986): 116; Lin Ting # g and
Liu Weirong SlJ$^l, "Wumen hechuGusu Tai" ^H'fnjjllt&MH, Henan tushuguan xuekan M S B
g g f ^ f l j 1 (2001): 78.

304

This is not to deny that a poem about an actual journey also involves imagination to certain extent.

305

Zhang, Linyun youyue, 2. lb.

133

Wang Xi does not mark the site with historical allusions, but focuses more on his
personal observation and interaction with the site throughout the years. In the first line
Wang plays with the visual effect: That it's the trees from a distance as the tiny moss
makes the terrace outstanding and glorious. As I have mentioned, Wang travelled mainly
for business, not for pleasure, and that was why although he passed Tiger Hill seven
times, he only visited it once. Finally visiting the site, Wang expressed his excitement,
which is especially explicit in the note at the end of the poem.
According to Zhang Yaosun's preface to his sister's poetry collection, "After
[Wanying] got married and went to live in Changzhou, Wang often traveled far. His wife
devoted herself to the family chores, such as daily rice and salt. As a result, her poems

decreased" RBm%M?Em%&M*ffl^P*mZmm^B\ft&'J>.:i06

The

tedious housework not only took time away from Zhang Wanying, but also exhausted her
inspiration for writing. Under such circumstances, although imperfect, recumbent travel
offered a solution. Wang Xi's travel poems provided her food for thought and thus
motivated Zhang Wanying's writing.
Zhang Wanying desired to escape from various household chores. In her
responses to Wang Xi's poem, she revealed her hope for living in seclusion with him.
One year, Wang passed his birth place Wuxi MM, Jiangsu province and sent a poem to
Zhang Wanying:
This is where my kind mother gave me birth in the past,
Passing the site, I feel sentimental.
Like bitter fleabane I have wandered around in vain for forty years,
The sedges are wilting, wasting three years of spring.
The vast and hazy mountain sees a traveler shamed of himself,
Zhang, Linyun youyue, mulu @i$, lb.

134

The wailing spring water is accompanied by a weeping orphan.

Although close, I cannot return to my hometown,
I lean against the door in the neighborhood and sadly miss my deceased
mother.

mRMMffi*m, ^Mmm^^Ao307
Little is known about Wang Xi's family background, but judging from the fact that he
went to live with Zhang Wanying's family early in his childhood, he probably was an
orphan. On the surface, the poem is about how his identity as a traveler prevented him
from fulfilling filial piety; in the end, however, it is about lamenting his orphan identity.
In this sense, the traveler image represents the solitary existence of Wang Xi: he could
only wander from place to place, never finding a home. In other words, his identity as
xingke (a traveler) is tightly linked to his identity as a xianmin (an orphan). In this sense,
the trip passing Wuxi was no fun for Wang Xi, for it conveyed the sad reality of his
lonely existence.
In Zhang Wanying's response, however, the focus shifts from the symbolic
connection between a traveler and an orphan to her own wish for an intimate lifelong
journey with her husband:
In My Husband's Rhyme, Remembering My Late
Mother-in-law Yu Ruren when Passing Wuxi
It is hard for the young plant to return the spring sun's favor,
Leading a deer cart and without a stable family, our hope is always
unfulfilled.
For three days, with the sacrifices of vegetable and meat soup, I paid
respect to her portrait,
For ten years, I have hand-washed your traveling clothes which I
remember very well.
307

Ibid., 1.1a.

135

Your tired eyes look into the clouds, reaching the underworld,
You, the winter bird who intends to return mother's favor, can only fly
alone at night.
When can we build a cottage next to her tomb,
Together to gather the vines and thornferns at the ancient mountain.

The first two lines are about Wang Xi's difficult life before and after marriage. A young
child is compared to the young plant, and the mother is the sunlight that nourishes the
child. However, because of family rivalry and Wang Xi's own poverty, the couple could
not go back to Wuxi to fulfill their filial piety. The "deer car" (wanlu, a wheelbarrow
with the size that a deer can fit in) refers to a married couple leading a poor life.309
Starting from Line Three, by alternatively poeticizing two kinds of separation
between Wang Xi and two women: the separation between the living (Wang) and the
dead (Wang's mother), and between those alive (Zhang Wanying and her traveling
husband). The third couplet stresses the loneliness of Wang Xi as a son who could not
fulfill his filial piety, yet in the last two lines, Zhang Wanying makes a wish to retreat
from the mundane and engage in hermitage next to her mother-in-law's grave. The
concept of caiwei reflects her imagined journey to hermitage. The caiwei (picking
thornferns) comes from the biography of Bo Yi j ^ M and Shu Qi MM Bo Yi and Shu

im

See note 275.

310

"Bo Yi liezhuan" -fSH^J#, in Sima, Shiji, 61.1687-93.

136

Qi were two righteous men who refused to serve the new king after their own country fell.
Instead, they chose to abandon the mundane and live on Mount Shouyang "ti P,
surviving by picking thornferns. Caiwei then became a culturally-loaded term meaning
hermitage.
Such a desire for hermitage is also reflected in another recumbent travel poem of
Zhang Wanying based on a landscape painting: "In vain, is a wish left for a joint
hermitage, / 1 unfolded a scroll to allow my mind to wander" rl$Hif HUH M^tsM @
M.

The wish for hermitage reflects the emptiness as the result of the long-distance

relationship and hardships in life. However, although Zhang Wanying had such a wish,
as a wife, she still had the duty to encourage her husband to cherish his travels. One year,
Wang Xi wrote from an inn in Hangzhou:
Having traveled for thirty li,
I began to miss my family terribly.
It is not because of hunger or coldness,
But how can I bear the sudden separation?
I remember renting the boat last night,
The fortuneteller set today for a lucky trip.
My wife was speechless,
My concubine seemed lost.
My beloved son wanted to travel with me,
My young daughter struggled to hold my knees.
I was afraid that crying would bring bad luck,
But all of us had a solemn expression.
With tears in eyes, I would leave for the trip,
Before speaking up, I already choked up.
A real man's ambition lies in four directions,
How can he become depressed in spirit?
I tossed my sleeves, forced myself out of the door,
But my heart was about to break.
In the cold a bird cries out,
I sob at the last flicker of light.

311

Zhang, "Ti shanshui huafu"lij7XMte, in Linyun youyue, 1.12a.

137

312

Upon receiving this poem from her husband, Wanying wrote back:
Responding to My Husband Who Berthed at Henglin
and Sending the Poem to His Hotel in Hangzhou
The cold wind is strong in autumn,
The seasons have suddenly changed.
The old cicadas cry at sunset,
The sad grasshoppers hopped into the dark room.
Touched, I start to miss the person in the distance,
You, my husband, often left as a guest.
A floating cloud does not dwell motionlessly,
But a flying bird has a place to rest.
The lakes and mountains are dark and green,
Cherishing the past we lament the old sites.
A beauty living a thousand years ago,
Can still arouse our imagination of her beautiful look.
In youth, you can enjoy the pleasure trips,
At an old age, travel will turn into a painful labor.
Glory and fame have been treasured since ancient times,
And how can you waste your time?
Look up to observe the flying geese
That raise their wings to fly over a thousand //,
Why don't you ride on the heavenly wind,
to soar between the clouds and waters.

iijthtliiA, S m f t .
312

Zhang, Linyun youyue, 2.7b.

138

mibwft^- m^mmm.
HAB^HS WPiSiitl*.
w#Af^ii SgHttfrft.

muffin
n-gmmm
femni^m

jic^JalSSIo

i^mjiMo
M^zkMo

313

Wang Xi's poem, composed while abroad, is about his sad feelings of separation. Zhang
Wanying's poem is mainly about encouraging her husband to see the bright side of his
journey. The different tones reflect the different roles of the two. Traveling was largely
an obligation for Wang Xi who widely traveled for exams and jobs throughout his life
mostly in frustration. The frequency of this obligation overshadowed the "pleasure" that
might have co-existed on the trip. Furthermore, this obligation forced him to leave his
family too often, which strengthened the pain of traveling. Zhang Wanying had no
obligation to travel for a career, and consequently, her representation of Wang Xi's trip is
mostly about the significance of the travel, not the actual experience. She had to imagine
the journey through what she learned from books, pictures, verbal information, and her
husband's poem. For this reason, her poems are full of allusions rather than descriptions
of personal experiences compared to Wang Xi's. Instead of focusing on one particular
experience, her poem is about time elapsed from the perspectives of nature, history and
her husband's personal journey.
As Pei-yi Wu argues that when some traveler-writers who intend to claim
credibility take the stance of a historian, "local lore and legends" rather than individual
observations are used in the texts.314 Because of her lack of personal traveling experience,
313

Ibid., 2.7a/b.

314

Pei-yi Wu, The Confucian's Progress: Autobiographical Writings in Traditional China (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1990), 8.

139

Zhang Wanying must draw inspirations from historical or widely recognized principles,
yet at the same time, the adoption of such an objective stance gives her a certain
credibility and enables her to see Wang Xi's journey beyond its hardship and more on its
practical function for social maintenance and advancement. Zhang Wanying's recumbent
travel is a positive response to Wang Xi's poem, and her imagination of the travel might
have helped Wang Xi to step beyond his personal experience to consider his journey and
see life from a broader perspective.
Although, after marriage, Zhang Wanying stayed at home waiting for her
husband's return from his travels most of the time, she did take a long journey which
started on April 24, 1847 by boat. However, the journey took place only because of Wang
Xi's death: she had to escort his body back to his hometown of Taicang. Zhang Wanying
left a long travel diary and some poems to record this journey. Her diary focuses on
various details of her journey, such as itinerary, time, river and weather conditions.315
Different from her diary, her poems about this journey project her complex emotions as a
traveler. Since the trip took so long, sometimes she would become bored: "The clouds of
Chu completely block my vision, / Bending my fingers to count the days, I know another
ten days have passed"2tft$ iff, f t f l i X M ^ . 3 1 6 Sometimes she felt sentimental
about the lonely trip and the symbolic journey of life: "In the wind and rain, I stay at the
riverbank, / On mist-covered waves I float."fiMffTft,

Mffi.^tifcM-317

"Becoming a

hermit with you is my lifelong wish, / How hard is it for me to be a widow"^ IH^^E
315

See Zhang, "Nangui jicheng," and Mann, "The Virtue of Travel," 63-66.

316

Zhang, "Zufeng qianmeng ji Wanchuan zi Zhongyuan d i " l f i J U i l l ^ ^ , f ll&Wislll, in Linyun youyue,

4.1b.
3,7

Ibid.

140

in many poems, she wrote about the landscape, furthering her

poetic imagination with an eye-opening experience: "Ridges of wheat start to grow ears
at the right time, / The mountain views glow fresh before my wide-opened eyes."III? n
Brf5, LilTfcjTOff.3I9 "On the mist-covered waves shed the traveler's tears, / Unique
sceneries mark the spring of a strange land" 'WMM^$>

JH#3^^#.

32

"My poetic

thought is as expansive as the river and the sky, / and my mind is as clear as thousands of
ravines"f# J S t t A P , ;[MiTJffiyf .321 Her poem entitled "Berth in the Evening" ("Wan
bo"B&vl=l) describes a great life in detail that precisely echoes her wish for hermitage in
her recumbent travel poems discussed before:
I tied up my boat by the grassy riverbank,
The green trees hide the gate of twigs and branches.
A young child is driving the sheep herd back,
A farmer is guiding the calves home.
The evening mist falls on the shimmering water,
Clouds gather the slanting beams of the sun.
The willow floss is in no mood either,
In the drizzle, it dots the traveler's robe.

mmjfmrn, mm^%&322

318 (,

'Chuxi Anqing zhouci ganhuai ji Wanchuan zimei Zhongyuan di"|$4^l!;fr&istlW^Dll$#fc#ffi

H, the second poem, in Linyun youyue, 4.4b.
19

320

Zhang, Linyun youyue, 4. lb.

Ibid., 4.4b.

321

Chuxi Anqing zhouci ganhuai ji Wanchuan zimei Zhongyuan di,"the third poem, in Zhang, Linyun
youyue, 4.4b.
322

Zhang, Linyun youyue, 4.1b.

141

Zhang Wanying's poems on recumbent travel enabled her to communicate with

her husband in a long-distance relationship. Wang Xi's travels gave her the motivation to
take some time from her housework schedule to write. What she was most fascinated
about was not the actual journey, but certain concepts or significance that traveling
carries, such as the idea of hermitage and Wang Xi's potential career success. Such a
contrast of detachment and attachment to the family duties reflects Zhang Wanying's
dilemma: on the one hand, she desired a care-free life with her husband; on the other
hand, she was obligated to encourage Wang Xi to travel and to ignore the pain of longterm separation. When her recumbent travel ended, the intellectual communications
between her and her husband ended, too. The journey of escorting Wang Xi's body
became another type of separation with a longer distance. Her wish for xieyin iWM
(leading a hermit's life together with the spouse) remained a wish forever.
As travels for the most part were only a family duty for Wang Xi, Zhang
Wanying's journey was also a duty to show her female domestic virtue, and therefore did
not involve much fun.

The couple could not enjoy traveling in each other's company

and remained solitary travelers throughout their lives. In this sense, actual journeys
became tragedies, and recumbent travel turned into a privilege, serving to strengthen the
couple's emotional and intellectual bonds. Furthermore, their poetry exchanges can also
be considered a migrant strategy of maintaining the split household.

Poems Inspired by a Painting or a Literary Text

Mann, "The Virtue of Travel."

142

As in the male tradition of recumbent travel, composing these poems helped

women drive away loneliness and stimulate their poetic imaginations. In her song-lyric
poem "Busuanzi: Hua shanshui" Is %-f: 18 IIITK (To the Melody of Busuanzi: Painting a
Landscape), Xu Shuhui WMM (fl. first half of the 19th-c.) wrote:
The cold mist descends on my light garment,
Alone I take a leisurely stroll.
Upon hearing the bell in the early dawn,
I become lonely and drift into a reverie...

324

mmmmmmm, &MMM

When she positions herself into the landscape, the daydream begins in the quietness
created by the environment. Although confined to the inner quarters, the woman poet
could embark on a poetic journey inspired by a painting. The actual landscape was
inaccessible, yet she recreates an imagined landscape within the inner quarters.
Some women wrote recumbent travel poems on landscape paintings they
themselves had painted. Qian Shoupu H^plH (1801-1869), for instance, wrote a poem
entitled "Ti zixie shantou shanshui" MM SS ill 7-K (Written on my own landscape
painting on a fan):
The hazy vapor is absorbed into the tip of the brush,
At the top of the trees, the sound of the leaves is the quietest.
I write about the wind and rain in the mountain,
In front of my little window, late summer weather turns
into the days of autumn.

Mmiu^Amm, 'm-^mm^
324

Xu, Shou yin ci ISLM/M, in Xu, Xiaotanluan, 4b.

325

Qian, Xiufolou shigao Mffi$MM,

2.13b.

143

325

Qian Shoupu's poetic lines make use of the autumn landscape depicted by the painting to
introduce an imaginary coolness into the heat of a summer day. This change in weather
is accompanied by a spatial expansion and a psychological shift: the world in front of the
little window (of the boudoir) is to include the deep mountains, and by extension, to a
more open and animated mood.
As discussed above, to women, the act of recumbent travel was often combined
with various artistic forms such as poetry and painting. It is when womanly work
embroideryjoined this union that such an artistic combination became gendered,
traditionally as feminine. As Grace S. Fong notes, embroidery helped to create a shared
womanhood in daily life, no matter whether a woman embroidered alone or with
companions. Women linked embroidery with poetry, painting, and religious practices in
order not only to fulfill their domestic duties but also to satisfy their aesthetic and
spiritual needs.326 Ding Pei T t t (fl. 1820s), the author of the Xiupu $t (Treatise on
embroidery, preface dated 1821) elevated a woman with embroidery skills to a level
higher than a regular painter in portraying landscape:
I remember one year on a spring day, when my boat crossed Liang
Creek, the sunrays at dusk covered the mountains, and the light of
the mist turned multicolored. In a playful mood, I embroidered
[the scene] with faded red blended with ivory-colored floss. A row
of distant hills; the fresh green color of the shanjiao trees formed a
grove, and fish came to the emerald waters of the creek. Suddenly
my senses were completely refreshed. This is where painters have
not reached.

tt##B, &M, fiot, mtim. mmmim^ttw&

For a cultural history of embroidery in Chinese women's life, see Grace S. Fong, "Embroidery as a
Knowledge Field in Women's Everyday Life in Late Imperial and Early Republican China," Late Imperial
China 25, no. 1(2004): 1-58.

144

mj&mib-tth ih.mmj&tt, &*%&&&, i s ^ s - i f , istmmffi^

Ding Pei emphasizes the unique womanly artistic sensitivity and skills in constructing the
landscape in embroidery, a special feminine skill. Instead of reconstructing or
overthrowing Chinese women's femininity defined by men, Ding Pei signifies this
femininity by emphasizing its function of creating a uniquely feminine style. Thus in
Ding Pei's system of embroidery and arts, feminine works become the center and men's
arts are marginalized.
The nineteenth-century poet Zeng Yi's If i l (1852-1927) poems about her
landscape-embroidered pillow illustrates the close connection between women and
recumbent travel. She composed a series of poems entitled'Ti zihui shanshui xiuzhen"H
It'lll/.KJpitt (The pillow that I embroidered myself with landscape). In these poems,
she cheerfully depicts her joy of embroidering a pillow with a landscape pattern: "I
bought some silk to embroider the landscape of a spring river, / and then composed a new
poem that is as beautiful as those Six Dynasties poems"W^^Hh^H-M>

Mf#0fl#lfe

7\ff3.328 By comparing her poems to Six Dynasty poems (and here, she may be referring
to the landscape poems of Six Dynasty poets such as Xie Lingyun), Zeng not only takes
pride in the aesthetic value of her poems, but also the visual pleasure provided by her
embroidery work. Such a vivid evaluation also reflects Zeng's knowledge of Chinese
poetic historyan active process of recumbent travel that moves from her memory and

327

Ding Pei, "Shanshui renwu" lhzKA%, Xiupu, 7a/b, in Congshujicheng xubian iUfftfiStiWI, vol. 79
(Shanghai: Shanghai shudian, 1994), 799. The translation isfromFong, "Embroidery," 33.

328

Kang-i Sun Chang, Six Dynasties Poetry (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986).

145

imagination of the landscape to an embroidered picture of the landscape, and then to the
poems based on traveling in the imagined landscape which is again linked to the poetic
tradition. The close daily contact between the woman and her pillow points to the
intimacy between women and the arts. In Zeng Yi's case, recumbent travel comes as
close as possible to its literal meaning: roaming while lying down. Since the landscape is
right on the pillow, roaming can take place whenever her eyes or her head rests upon it,
whether dreaming or daydreaming. Daydreaming, according to Sigmund Freud, is a
means of wish fulfillment.329 For many women, this unfulfilled wish may have been the
ability to view the actual landscape, a wish that could at least partially be fulfilled by
recumbent travel. This type of imaginary travel could reduce or erase space and distance.
In the third poem, Zeng Yi wrote:
How can a mountain in the distance be as slim as my poetic mind,
Howling, the west wind is urging the leaves to fall.
The cold moon, the surrounding mountains cannot enclose them,
The autumn sound travels to my pillow.

mnm\hM^&, ft.m$m#M&o 33
The artificial landscape created by women poets not only touches upon their
internal desires for travel, but also stimulates emotional and intellectual communications.
To Qian Shoupu, writing about her husband's landscape painting was a way to show her

Freud links this unsatisfied wish to erotic desires, especially for women. However, here, I utilize his
argument of the links among creative writing, daydreaming and unfulfilled wishes to illustrate the
unfulfilled female desire for travel. See Freud, "Creative Writers and Daydreaming," The Critical
Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends, 2 nd ed., ed. David H. Richter (Boston: Bedford Books,
1998), 483-88.
330

Zeng, Guhuanshiji, 1.8a/b.

146

appreciation of the art and her spouse. In her poem "Ti waizi hua shanshui xiaofu"M^h
-f~M lllzM"''!'! (Written on my husband's small landscape painting), she wrote:
Your style shares Ni Zan's eremitic style 331and Mi Fu's unrestrained
style,332
My silent poems echo the Chan spirit of the painting.
The value of a painting will be recognized by those who truly
understand it even in a thousand years,
And it does not matter how much it was worth at the time.

^ftgwfciwjt, T-mnmiM.mm*333
Instead of describing her husband's painting itself, Qian Shoupu uses the examples of
two famous painters in history to argue that a great painter will eventually be recognized
even if that is not the case at the time. Ni Zan {%M. (1301-1374) was a painter,
calligrapher and poet. In landscape painting, he was famous for his simple style, using
blank space in the painting {shuti JSjEft) for a special artistic effect. Ni Zan traveled
widely, which enhanced his skill in landscape painting. Admiring reclusion, Ni Zan
called himself Lan Zan fl|Iff (lazy Zan), and later people also called him Ni Yu IKS (Ni,
the Slow) or Yu Weng J$:m (Slow Old Man). In his own time, he was better known for
his poetry than his painting. During the Ming-Qing period, however, Ni Zan's paintings
became extremely influential because of the advocacy of his devotees, such as the famous

331

See Wang Bomin Hfiigt, "Ni Zan shanshuihua de kongshu mei" \%M. lilzK4KjSMH, Xin Meishu f
Jtftj 1 (1995): 39-40. Lii Shaoqing S4>W, "LunNi Zan de dangshi shiming dayu huaming" t t ' t l l i W t
B#lf ^S^S^H^S, Nanjingyishu xuanyuan xuebao (meishuyu sheji ban) S ^ 8 # I ^ K ^ I S (j|#!JS|tft
B.) 3(2005): 74-76.

332

See Shen Wei iftft, "Lun er Mi shanshuihua zhi bian" WiKA\7kM2.M, Meishuyanjiu itffjffl^ 4
(1997): 71-76.
333

Qian, Xiufolou shigao, 1.15a.

147

painter Shen Zhou fcffl (1427-1509) 334and the rich merchants from Huizhou H&j'H (in
modern Anhui province) who collected Ni Zan's paintings. The other painter mentioned,
Mi Fu yfcff (1051-1107), was famous for his spontaneous and unrestricted style of
landscape painting in the Northern Song against the contemporary mainstream of realism.
His landscape painting is literati's spontaneous play of ink (wenren moxi 3 t A S f t ^ )
which focuses on the painter's unrestricted self-expression instead of depicting the
realistic details. Mi Fu introduced the literary style of simplicity and innocence (pingdan
tianzhen ^PM AJC) advocated by Ouyang Xiu and Su Shi into his landscape painting.
Both Ni Zan and Mi Fu were innovative painters unrecognized by their
contemporaries, yet enjoyed great fame later. Both of them had a literary background,
and their landscape paintings were great examples of wenren hua 3t A M (literati
paintings). It is not surprising for Qian Shoupu to use Ni and Mi as examples because her
background and that of her husband were very similar to the two painters. 335 This poem
thus conveys multiple meanings: appreciating the painting, encouraging both her and her
husband and valuing the talented painters in history. Ironically, all three male painters,
including her husband, had been on many journeys which greatly inspired their paintings,
while Qian Shoupu was the only one who had to depend on mind travel. With her
extraordinary artistic talent and rich knowledge from books, she gained the ability to
form an intellectual conversation with her husband and the masters of previous dynasties.

334

Shen Zhou, together with Tang Yin S U (1470-1523), Wen Zhengming X^M (1470-1559) and Qiu
Ying ihM (14987-1552) belonged to a painters' group called "Wumen Huapai" ^ P 1 MM (the School
from Wumen) which was very influential in mid-Ming.

335

Both Qian Shoupu and her husband were poets and painters. See Qian Shoupu's self preface in her
poetry collection Xiufolou shigao.

148

In the late imperial period, women poets would often write poems on gifts
presented to friends, a practice that took the women's poetic reputation beyond the
domestic boundary. The poet Yuan Jingrong "MMM (ca. 1805-ca. 1848), for example,
was known for her poems on fans, which she then sent to her female friends as gifts. Two
of her poems are entitled "Writing on a Landscape Fan Given as a Gift to Lady Pan, My
Younger Female Friend Lu Xiuqing" ("Ti shanshui shanmian zeng Pan furen Lu Xiuqing
mei" MlhlkMWWlM^ABMMffi;)

and "Writing on a Landscape Fan Given as a Gift

to Lady Pan, My Younger Female Friend Wang Peizhi" ("Ti shanshui shanmian zeng Pan
furen Wang Peizhi mei"H lh 7&M ffil^f^c A f f M ^ ^ c ) . 3 3 6

The poems on the fans

were inspired by the landscapes painted on those same fans: in other words, they were the
visible results of Yuan Jingrong's own recumbent travel. Once these fans reached the
hands of Yuan's friends, they would then give rise to yet another round of recumbent
travel. Yuan's poems dictated the second round which inevitably involved the
appreciation of the landscape (the view), the fan (the gift), the poem and, finally, the
giver and the author of the poem. The exchanges enhanced the friendship without the
poets ever having to step outside to connect in person. It resolved, at least partially, the
conflict beween women's limited mobility and their desires for making connections with
the outside world.
In fact, women's poems inscribed on paintings expanded their social and
intellectual connections in various ways. First, their circle of friends became bigger by
not only including secular but also religious friends. For example, Xu Deyin I^I^W
(late 17th-c.-early 18th-c.) wrote a poem entitled "Writing on the Landscape Painting by
336

Yuan, Yuequxuan shicao jf fgff JJ:f: (1848), 1.8a/b.

149

Person of the Way Dachi" ("Ti Dachi daoren shanshuitu"M^:SiiAli47XH).

And

Wang Duan S : ^ (1793-1838) composed a poem entitled "Writing on the Painting on

Listening to the Rain in the Empty Mountain by the Female Daoist from Lanling, Wang
Qingwei"("Ti Lanling niiguan Wang Qingwei Kongshan tingyu t u " M l ^ i c S 3 E ^ ^ S [

^diltrfll). 3 3 8
Second, women's poems on paintings allowed them to express their appreciation
of the literary tradition through paintings from previous dynasties. The Qing poet Wang
Duan, for example, wrote a series of poems on a landscape painting done by a Ming
dynasty woman painter, Lin Tiansu "Writing on the Ming Lady Lin Tiansu's Landscape
Album (Four Poems)" ("Ti Ming nushi Lin Tiansu shanshui xiaoce (sishou)"H0S^Ci#
A f t ill 7K'>ffir H f ) - 3 3 9 And the late Qing poet Xue Shaohui If i M (1866-1911) wrote
many poems on previous writers or painters, including the Qing male poet Wu Meicun ^
H W (1609-1672) and the late Ming female poet Huang Yuanjie.340
Sometimes this process of communicating via painting and recumbent travel
could become quite complicated. Wei Xiaolan i t ^ M I , a female friend of the woman
poet Zuo Xijia (1831-1896), accompanied her father whenever he traveled to take up an
official position, and as a result personally witnessed much chaos on the road. For a good
337

Xu, Lujingxuan shichao ^ y P f f l f &!>, in Guochao guige shichao H $ I H M i f # (1844), comp. Cai
Dianqi W:Wf^, 3.13b, 3.14a, http://digital.library .mcgill.ca/mingqing/english/.
338

Wang, Ziranhaoxuezhai shichao !i $SF<Pl^BtiJ-\ in Linxiay<ayin ji #Tfti=f^ft, comp. Mao Jun BfU,
4.2a, http://digital.library .mcgill.ca/mingqing/english/.
339

Ibid., 8.17a/b.

340

Xue, "Wu Meicun shanshui huafu g e ' ^ l f faLi47.k*i|Ifl and "Ti Huang Jieling hua" M^W^M,
Xue, Daiyunlou shiwenji WMWMX^
(1911), 2.8b, 2 .9a, http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/
mingqing/english/.

150

in

painting or simply to nourish the friendship, she then asked Zuo Xijia, who might be the
better painter, to execute a painting recording Wei's travels. In order to do this, Zuo first
had to imagine scenes based on Wei's descriptions, after which she was able to excute a
painting by means of which Wei could later remember her journeys.

In order to inscribe a poem onto a painting, the women poets usually had to have
a certain amount of artistic skill themselves. In fact, during the Ming-Qing period, there
were a significant number of women known for both their painting and their poetry.
Such a double role provided good opportunities to appreciate various paintings and
compose poems. Marsha Weidner makes the argument that although the mobility of
Chinese women, especially elite women, was highly limited, they still produced
significant landscape paintings.

Ellen Johnson Laing further discovered that among

the two major groups of female painters (courtesans and gentry women), while flowers
were the favorite subject, landscape ranked second.343 Although they were rarely able to
travel themselves, they imagined landscapes based on others' paintings or writings for
their own work. For example, Chen Shu f^H (1660-1736), a prominent female painter,
liked imitating the landscape paintings by male painters, especially the Yuan painter
Wang Meng i H (ca. 1308-1385). 344 For Chen Shu, what mattered was the ability to
appreciate and master the spirit and styles of previous masters of landscape painting. She

341

"Wei Xiaolan ntishi tiaonian suihuan bi yu fenghuo jianxian bei chang zhu hui guishutu yiji qi s h i " j t ' h

miCm^M^.MM'i^JXMM^VM^B^M

W E S * , in Zuo, Lengyinxianguan shigao, 5.10a/b.

342

Marsha Weidner et al., eds., Views from Jade Terrace: Chinese Women Artists 1300-1912 (Indianapolis:
Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1988), 23-25.
343

Laing, "Women Painters," 92.

344

Marsha Weidner, "The Conventional Success of Ch'en Shu," in Weidner, Flowering in the Shadows,
132.

151

was not so concerned with depicting authentic landscape scenes. In Chen Shu's case,
recumbent travel lost its original meaning of appreciating the landscape through art, but
transferred its focus to the art itself. In this process, the virtual landscape in the masters'
paintings became a mere model for Chen Shu's artistic creation, having nothing to do
with travel. Such a use of a virtual landscape for artistic identity can also be seen in
Wang Duan's poetic creation. Throughout her life, Wang Duan never left her hometown
in the Jiangnan area and yet her poems were often characterized as being qingyan fltffe
(pure and gorgeous). In her effort to create this poetic impression, Wang Duan
sometimes created an imaginary landscape setting, as in her "Qiu jiang ci" t^tEfnJ (A
poem about the autumn river). As the contemporary Chinese scholar Jiang Yin WM
notes:
Wang Duan never set foot in the areas beyond Jiangsu and Zhejiang. However, in
this poem she suddenly starts to describe the banks of the Xiang River [in Hunan].
This, of course, is not a description of the actual landscape. Writing about a river
in autumn, she did not use the landscape in the Jiangnan area as a model, but
imagined the Xiang River. This strategy points to her intention of creating an
impressionist effect shared by the works of the poets Qu Yuan, Yuan Jie 7C&p
[719-772], Liu Zongyuan $\\Mjt [773-819]and Li Qunyu $ $ 5 [ c a . 807-858].
This impressionist beauty is precisely the pure and gorgeous beauty that was her
poetic ideal. 345
To Chen Shu and Wang Duan, associating themselves with the artistic tradition of
landscape authorizes their authenticity as painters or writers whereas the authenticity of
their landscape became totally irrelevant.
By reading written texts female poets also obtained knowledge of the outside
world and were able to speak about travel. The Qing woman poet Wang Zhenyi l i f t Hi

In Jiang, "Yidai cainti Wang Duan" f^&ffiirS, Wenshizhishi j t i ^ O H 9 (2000): 78.

152

wrote in her poem entitled "Du Huangshanzhi o u z u o " l l ^ l i l ^ ' f S # (Spontaneously

written after reading the Record of the Huang Mountains):
The Huang Mountains are famous throughout the world,
Their splendid beauty has achieved perfection.
Travelers from various places take a stroll in the mountains,
They bundle some food and walk for a thousand //.
When climbing, it does not matter far or near,
When trekking, one is also joyful in heart.
Travelers either narrate their journey,
Or compose a poem to keep a record.
The writings for this reason mostly
End up with pieces written for the occasions.
The special collections are too many,
By naming one good one, I miss a hundred.
If one inscribes their titles on stone,
The wind and rain will easily wear them away.
I've only heard of the Yellow Mountain's reputation,
And have not had a chance to tread on it with my light shoes.
In vain, I decide to visit it in my mind,
My mental wandering is inexhaustible.
I opened and read the Record of the Huang Mountains,
But felt as if I were only reading a partial view.
But then I looked at a painting, and got a better idea.
Fortunately there are texts there on the mountain top
That can serve as the history of the mountain clouds.
The tip of my brush is covered with cold mist,
In front of my eyes the color of lavender is overwhelming.
The delicate feather crown unfurls itself,
Hanging in the sky, the colorful banners stand tall.
The illusory sea prods my mind to practice detachment,
The ancient pine trees line up in the cracks of the stones.
Inside the myriad solemn layers of the trees,
I suspect is where live a couple of immortals.
Tired of reading the book, I get up and wander,
Have I achieved a fair understanding of this mountain?
How can I explore its depths to my heart's content,
And one by one exhaust all that my tracks can cover.
The clouds that hand over the thirty-six peaks,
I will carry them back with me and study them more.

^MLIJA,

i^^So

153

I, ffiM80ffih.
H+7N1H|8,

ffl

346

To her good fortune, Wang Z h e n y i347

^ as a girl traveled widely with her family, but she
never visited the Huang Mountains in Anhui province. Her poem vents an explicit
dissatisfaction with recumbent travel, that it can never replace an actual journey.
However, as she repeatedly wanders about the Huang Mountains mentally, her curiosity
increases, calling for a real trip. The last three couplets portray Wang Zhenyi as an
explorer, similar to the great traveler Xu Hongzu, because both loved exploring and
studying geographical wonders through field trips. In fact, despite her accomplishments
in literature, Wang Zhenyi is better known as a female scientist who wrote extensively on
medicine, astronomy, mathematics, etc. 348
Recumbent travel provided a legitimate way for women to experience the outside
world. By creating an imagined landscape, they could write about their desire for
346

Wang, Defending chuji, 12.12b, 12.13a.

347

For her biography, see Chap. 2.

348

Wang Zhenyi's works include, just to list a few, Yifangyanchao xu f t ^ l s ^ f p , Yueshi lun ft I t H ,
Chousuan yizhi U H H ^ R . See Ma Qingfu Hflt-fS, Wentan jiaxiufunii zuojia qun
3cM.*&MMi^ffi
f (Shenyang: Liaoning renmin chubanshe, 1997), 233-36.

154

movement. This imagined landscape became not only a convenient means by which
women could express themselves, but it also helped women make intellectual
connections. However, the more they appropriated the concept of recumbent travel, the
more dissatisfied with the concept they became.

Xi Peilan's Challenge to the Concept

Xi Peilan /SUftlfij (1762-ca. 1820) was Yuan Mei's favorite female disciple. In
the Suiyuan ntidizi shixuan M.M^fct&'f'WfM (Poetry collection of the female disciples
from the Garden of Leisure) compiled by Yuan Mei, her name was listed first.349 Xi
Peilan enjoyed a companionate marriage with her husband Sun Yuanxiang J^J^ffl
(1760-1829), himself a well-known poet 350 In fact, Sun learned how to write poetry from
Xi and they often exchanged poems with each other.
Compared to many of her contemporaries, Xi often had the opportunity to travel
with her husband as he moved from one official position to another. In fact, travel poems
take up a considerable portion in Xi's collected works, which is entitled Changzhengeji
H i t H ^ l (Poetry collection from the Tower of Eternal Sincerity). Her personal
349

See Yuan Mei, comp., Suiyuan ntidizi shixuan (1796-1850), http://digital.library

.mcgill.ca/mingqing/english/. In this poetry collection, there are poems written by twenty-eight female
disciples of Yuan Mei. Xi Peilan is listed as the first poet, which shows her important status and
remarkable poetic talent among the disciples. For more information about the female disciples, see Wang
Yingzhi 3EiJife, "Guanyu Suiyuan ntidizi de chengyuan shengcheng yu chuangzuo" iflS^KBI^Cl&;?&~]/?K
I , 4 $ c H i i J f 1 s Jinggangshan shifan xueyuanxuebao RWl&U^^U^^.
23, no.l (2002): 18-25. For
a general discussion of Xi Peilan, see Wang Yingzhi, "Suiyuan diyi ntidizi Changshu nushiren Xi Peilan
lunlue"
ffiili?&HT%MM%Al%M,WmiV&,
Wuzhongxuekan %*P#fij 3 (1995): 53-58; Hawkes,
"Hsi P'ei-lan."
350

For a good introduction of Yuan Mei and his poetry school of Xingling, see Wang Yingzhi, "Lun Yuan
Mei ji Xingling pai" i l ^ t ^ I I t t s M , in his book Yuan MeijiXinglingpai shizhuan S t t K t t f i ' M l t #
(Changchun: Jilin renmin chubanshe, 2000), 1-98. For Sun Yuanxiang's poems, see Tianzhengeji ^ H K
*(1891).

155

experience on the road or the river not only provided her with poetic inspiration, but also
became an important source of pride. She visited Confucius' hometown of Qufu f&Jipand wrote:
The crown, the object, can be valuable enough to overlook the
emperor,
Yet women are too lowly to worship even the commoner king [Confucius].
As soon as I get home, I will boast to my brothers and sisters,
That I have, in person, been to the hometown of the sage.

foRmmm%m,

^wmmmxmo351

This poem illustrates her view that women could benefit as much from travel as men. In
this poem, she expresses her pride at being able to come to Qufu and pay her respects to
Confucius, just as male literati had been doing for centuries. Unsatisfied with simply
hearing about Confucius's legacy from other people's perspective, she used the character
gin IS (in person) to indicate the extent to which she valued the "personal experience"
over the secondhand one.
Qufu, a popular and sacred spot for male literati, is not off the beaten path. What
is significant about Xi Peilan's journey is not the discovery of the new places, but her
ability to tell stories about her personal experience of visiting this place and her desire to
create texts for others to use for the purposes of recumbent travel.
An even bolder challenge to the notion of recumbent travel is reflected in Xi
Peilan's poem entitled "Ti Sanxia tu"MHil^H (Written on the painting of Three Gorges):
The gorgeous view in Sichuan is not of this world,
Who painted this picture of the Qutang Gorge?
The solitary boat seems to be crossing over a deep well,
And a myriad of mountains rely on clouds to stand still.
351

"Qufu," in Xi, Changzhengeji,

1.5b.

156

I often wonder if the bright sun rises from the fading night,
And I do not believe that the blue sky is a dangerous path.
The most dangerous places are also the most extraordinary,
In the end, recumbent travel makes me regret not being a man.

WmW%M#&, HUifl:ILSft.

mmjEn^mm, M ^ M *

352

In this poem, Xi Peilan directly criticizes recumbent travel for its reinforcement of
gender limitations. This critique can be seen even more clearly when one compares this
poem to the poem composed by her husband Sun Yuanxiang on the same topic:
The Xiling Gorge
The dangerous shoals ran rapidly one after another,
The boat crossed such waves hundreds of times per day.
In the Chu area, the green shadows of the trees disappeared from
underneath the sail,
The grey clouds moved towards the front of the oars.
Water strikes like thunder with bank broken and wind roaring.
With mountains blocking the sun, it became windy and misty.
The most dangerous places are also the most extraordinary,
Bold journeys casue the traveler no grief.

mmjE^^m^, M

M ^ S C

353

It would appear from these two poems that Xi Peilan's was composed on the basis of her
imagination, while Sun Yuanxiang's poem was written on the basis of an actual journey
through the Three Georges. Sun's poem vividly describes the danger and beauty of the
place. If we focus on the last two lines, the two poems by the couple provide an

3 5 2 .<

Ti Sanxia tu," in Xi, Changzhengeji, 2.1 lb.

353

Sun, "Xiling x i a " H ^ ^ , in Wang Yingzhi, comp., Xinbian Qingshi sanbai shou SfSvf IfHWit"
(Nanjing: Jiangsu guji chubanshe, 1995), 286.

157

interesting example for comparison. First, the second to the last line is the same: "The
most dangerous places are also the most extraordinary." This indicates a connection
between these two poems; it is possible that Sun Yuanxiang traveled to the Three
Georges first and brought home a painting which then inspired Xi Peilan to compose her
own poem. Second, there is a sharp contrast in the last lines. In Sun Yuanxiang's poem,
he urges travelers to be daring so they can enjoy the beauty instead of fearing the danger.
His target audience (the travelers) must be male. Similarly, with the same line "the most
dangerous places are the most extraordinary," Xi Peilan confirms and shares her
husband's ambition and style; however, her gender inhibits her ability to explore the
world and write a poem like her husband. Her last line "recumbent travel makes me
regret not being a man" expresses not only her dissatisfaction with having to settle for
recumbent travel, but also represents a challenge to traditional gender limitations. Her
poem, especially when juxtaposed with her husband's, illustrates her special gender
concern about women's mobility and social status.
Xi Peilan clearly felt that, if given the chance to travel, women would be able to
act and write as vigorously as a man:
Crossing the Yangzi
All of a sudden this boat feels like a leaf,
Tossed about on myriad acres of billows.
The turgid waste stretches high and low,
The empty expanse knows neither east nor west.
Our ferry launch is submerged by palest clouds,
As the heart of the waves bathes the reddest sun,
In the inner quarters I never saw anything like this,
Now as I take in the sights, my spirit grows manly!

ffi

158

MMW*M M J

354

In the poem, Xi Peilan uses all kinds of senses: she "feels" that the boat has become very
light, floating on the waves up and down; she "sees" that the river and the sky are
connected to each other and the boundary disappears; the most beautiful natural scenery
gathers into her vision: the pale clouds and the red sun. These natural scenes have
reached their ultimate beauty at the same time and so visual pleasure reaches its peak.
These descriptions of the natural scenery can also be read symbolically. When the boat
feels light, the poet also feels light as a passenger, which creates a sense of freedom. In
this wide space on the river which is outside the inner quarters, there is not one single
"correct" direction. This immense space and the movement of floating at ease form a
sharp contrast between two spaces: the restricted inner quarters which are women's
proper place and the free wide space in nature where all boundaries, such as the sky and
river, boat and leaf become vague. When the boundaries become vague, the poet enjoys
her sense of limitlessness. The pale cloud and the red sun stand for the extraordinary
beauty that appears in the wide space. In this space, what is present is the absolute
enjoyment of aesthetics and personal freedom, and what is absent is the danger of the
journey. Although the boat is rocked up and down by the waves, the boat does not fall
and the speaker feels joyful when she is lost in the space. In fact, "being lost" in a space
"without a boundary" is positive in this poem.
If one thinks of a gentry woman's proper place as the home marked by the NeoConfucian norms of gender segregation, in crossing the Yangzi River, Xi Peilan

354

Xi, Changzhen geji, 1.5a. The translation is from Idema and Grant, Red Brush, 598.

159

temporarily left this prescribed woman's space behind, crossing the line between inner
and outer. The discovery of the extraordinary scenery on the river inspired Xi Peilan to
view the inner quarters from a different perspective. The last two lines vividly express
the poet's feeling that once having crossed this boundary, gender lines also became
blurred and she gained a new "self." Maureen Robertson argues that self-inscription is
not only a form of self-expression, but also a construction of "self-recognition and selfknowledge." As she writes, "The achieved statement or self-construct, contingent as it
may be, may come as a revelation to a writer, to be accepted as a genuine sense of
discovery."355 Xi Peilan's crossing of the Yangzi reflects not only the joy of discovering
a new landscape, but also a new self.
Xi's challenge to the idea of woyou and her emphasis on personal experience,
together with her poems based on actual journeys, demonstrate women's strong desire for
mobility. This move is not only a step from the inner to the outer, from composing
poems based on indirect to direct experience, but it also highlights women's
consciousness of gender unfairness in both social and literary spheres.
To conclude this chapter, I would like to quote a Buddhist laywoman Gui
Shufen's 11^(3? (17th-c.) poem, because she suggests an ideal journey for women that
combines the pleasures of the imagined and the actual travelsa cathartic process of
transforming the mental self-amusement to the enjoyment of a real trip:
Blanketed by dharma clouds, encircled by Twin-Stream, the new edifice
glows
The pavilion towers high, a solitary lamp shines in the distance, Sanskrit
sounds reach all the way to the flowery banks.
355

Maureen Robertson, "Changing the Subject: Gender and Self-inscription in Authors' Prefaces and 'Shi'
Poetry," in Ellen Widmer and Kang-I Sun Chang, ed. Writing Women in Late Imperial China (Stanford:
Stanford University Press, 1997), 217.

160

The fragrance of the cassia circles around, and we summon the recluse to
be our companion here in this deep valley, this secluded place.
I used to come here in my imagination to amuse myself,
My dream-spirit wandering about because I had not heard from you in so
long.
The invalid is the most languid; as evening falls she calls the maid
Lianlian to dust off the ancient ink stone,
Or maybe peruses her books until the chanting makes her dizzy, then
when winter ends and spring comes again, she goes to the Chan
convent.
This time as I climb up to the hall,
And slowly stroll through this women's monastery, my pent-up emotions
enjoy a measure of release, as in the green shadows, I listen
to the warbling of the yellow orioles.

Mmum

# # , mmmm,

356

\,

tyoy..'

356

"Rao Foge: Xi Cantong an xinjian dabei lou," MfftH : B^lsIllSf^fefcStt (To the tune of
'Encircling the Buddha-pavilion:' Delighting at the new building of the Great Compassion Tower at
Cantong convent), in Xu Naichang, ed. Guixiu cichao |HI^?f5]tl!-\ 4.5a/b, http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/
mingqing/english/. Translated by Beata Grant, in her article "Chan Friends."

161

Chapter Four Women's Poetry on Roaming as a Female Transcendent

Up until now, scholarly studies on the genre of youxian shi seemed to focus
exclusively on Tang and pre-Tang periods, giving the impression that after the Tang
nothing of interest was written in this particular genre.357 In fact, generally speaking,
ICQ

very little attention has been given to the poetry produced in the Ming-Qing period.
An important exception to this lack of interest in the poetry of the late imperial period has
been the explosion of studies on Ming-Qing women's literary culture since the 1990s. It
is thanks to the scholars, such as Dorothy Ko, Susan Mann, Kang-i Sun Chang, Grace S.
Fong, Maureen Robertson, Ellen Widmer, Wilt L. Idema, Beata Grant and many others, it
is now possible to ask questions, such as the ones I would like to pose in this chapter: Did
women write in the youxian shi genre? And if so, what can their poems tell us about how
they understood the connection between the human world and the world of the
transcendents? Are these poems simply imitations of the poems written by their male
counterparts, or do they exhibit any gender-specific characteristics?
Ming-Qing women writers seemingly were as fascinated as their male
counterparts by the idea of roaming and exploring in the spiritual space of the
transcendents' world, and they too wrote various types of youxian shi. These poems
appear under various slightly different titles, such as "Youxian"itMli], "Youxian shi" M
llillvf, "Nigu youxian shi" Wk~iMi\kW(ba- imitation of ancient poems on roaming as a
357

See Schafer, Mirages on the Sea of Time; Li, You yu you.

358

See Kang-i Sun Chang, "Ming and Qing Anthologies of Women's Poetry and Their Selection
Strategies," in Widmer and Chang, Writing Women,170. Also see J. D. Schmidt, "Preface," in Harmony
Garden: The Life, Literary Criticism, and Poetry of Yuan Mei (1716-1798) (London: RoutledgeCurzon,
2003).

162

transcendent), "Xiao youxian" <hJ$Hlij(Quatrains on roaming as a transcendent),

"Youxian xing" 2HJj^f (Song of roaming as a transcendent), "Youxian yin" 3^/fli|B^
(Chants on roaming as a transcendent), "Youxian ji Tang" 3$Hlij^ilJif (Roaming as a
transcendent: a collection of Tang poetic lines), "Youxian ji cainii ju" M{\\iM^tiZ/n]
(Roaming as a transcendent: a collection of talented women's poetic lines), "Meng
youxian" lIMil] (Dreaming of roaming as a transcendent), "Meng youxian yin" llilHlil
[^(Chants on dreaming of roaming as a transcendent), "You xian ji meng" itSHtlj&fij^
(Recording a dream of roaming as a transcendent), and "Nii youxian" ^.Mi\h-359 Many
of these titles, such as "Youxian," "Xiao youxian" and "Meng youxian" can be found
earlier in Tang dynasty poetry, 36 while others are inspired by or written in imitation of
Tang dynasty poems. For example, Liu Ruzhu's SiJ^P^ (Qing dyn.) two poems entitled
"Youxian ji Tang" are constructed by putting together various poetic lines from Tang
youxian shi written by male poets, and Su Lanwan's H M f t (fl. 18th-c.) two poems
entitled "Youxian ji cainii ju" are a collection of poetic lines by women poets from the
Tang to Ming-Qing periods.361 By the same token, the titles "Meng youxian yin" and
"Youxian jimeng" may well be just variations of the Tang title "Meng youxian." The one
title for which I have found no earlier precedent is "Nii youxian." 362

359

Found in various Ming-Qing women's anthologies or individual collections which are available at the
following link: http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/mingqing/english. Also, Xu Jingfan Wiftll (1563-1589), a
Korean female poet who wrote in Chinese, wrote 87 youxian ci iSHlIlfiU. See her Lanxuexuan shi BlUfFf$
(Nansorhon si) (ca.1608).

360

See Quart Tang shi.

361

For the poems, see Yun, Zhengshiji, 9.1a and 10.15a.

362

This title can be translated into English in several ways. It can be "Poetry on Roaming as a Female
Transcendent," "Women's Poetry on Roaming as a Transcendent," or "Poetry on Roaming as a

163

The most outstanding characteristic of this poetic title is the character nii. The
appearance of this character suggests that, without it, the genre of youxian is
conventionally associated with men. That is to say, although both men and women used
the poetic genre of youxian to compose poems, it was understood as being originally a
product of the male literary tradition. Taking this conventional idea into consideration, nii
youxian is significant in that it declares itself to be a new subgenre derived from the
bigger youxian genre, and one that specifically emphasizes the woman's perspective,
whether in terms of theme or of author. One cannot help thinking of another similar
situation in late imperial China, when the so-called Nil Sishu ^ [ S I U

(the Four books

for women) became widely circulated. The Sishu M ilr (Four books) refers to Daxue ^
# (Great learning), Zhongyong ^ J l t (Doctrine of the mean), Lunyu WftWi (Analects) and
Mengzi ]-f (Mencius) were prescribed by the state as the basis for a Confucian
education. 3 The Nii sishu, on the other hand, were moral tracts about female virtues and
targeted at a female audience. In the same sense, that Sishu were textbooks for men, and
Nil sishu, the "female" counterparts of Sishu, were textbooks for women. In the same
way, I argue that nil youxian is a distinct subgenre under the traditional youxian genre, if
not a direct counterpart. This particular subgenre of poetry emerged only in the MingQing period, in the context of the flourishing of women's poetry. Thus, the addition of

Transcendent for Women." What is interesting is that the ambiguity encountered in English translations
indicates that poems titled "Nii youxian" are specifically associated with women who were the poetic
subjects, authors, and readers.
363

Nii sishu refers to Ntijie izWi, Nii lunyu ittmfln, Nei xunft111and Niifanjie lu ic|3fti$ collected by a
Qing woman Wang Xiang Iffi. The influence of Nii sishu lasted until the end of the imperial era.

364

See Daniel K. Gardner, trans., with introduction and commentary, The Four Books: The Basic
Teachings of the Later Confucian Tradition (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2007).

164

the character nil also embodied the tension of women poets of this period experienced
when trying to break out of the male tradition and find "a voice of their own."
From the perspectives of content, authorship and readership, nil youxian poems
are written by women, about women, and probably mainly for women. In these poems,
the authors re-inscribe traditional male notions of the meaning and nature of the
transcendent world. As this chapter will show, the re-inscription of conventional generic
expectations exemplified by nil youxian are demonstrated in the work of four women
poets: Luo Qilian H & f l i (1755-1813), Gu Taiqing Jgg;WS (1799-1877), Ling Zhiyuan
l&fflM (b. ca.1830) and Gao Fengge MBkffl (d. before 1844).

Desire for Leadership and Fame: Luo Qilan's "Nii youxian"

A detailed discussion of ni\ youxian must begin with Luo Qilan since she not only
composed twenty poems of this genre, but also wrote a preface to this set of poems. The
preface is particularly important because it sheds invaluable light on the significance of
this poetic genre for women poets:
Ji Shuye Wi$M [Kang M 223-262] firmly believed in the matter of
transcendents, but Han Changli $t U S [Yu Ik 768-824] firmly
denied their existence. Since the beginning of recorded history, there
have been many [accounts of] interactions between humans and
transcendents. As for female transcendents, people have always
focused on their beautiful appearance. I am [just] a woman with a
mortal body and meager talent who lacks the qualities of a
transcendent. Nevertheless, the thought of soaring up into heaven
often comes to my mind. As I read Cao Yaobin's W^IH [Cao Tang W
Hf 9th-cen.] "Xiao youxian" ['JN$HIl Quatrains on roaming as a
transcendent] my body felt as weightless as if I were about to ascend
into the clouds. To my shame, I am not as talented as Yaobin who
could write thousands of words. I have only been able to compose
twenty poems in imitation [of his] all of which describe the roaming of female

165

transcendents. With these poems, I also record my admiration for these

experiences of [transcendent] roaming.

zmmm^-m, tmmn'mmmmmimnzm* smtmrnm, mz

This preface consists of two major ideas: in the first half of the preface, Luo Qilan
comments briefly on the youxian tradition in which the encounter between human beings
and transcendents often takes place; in the second, she tells us what inspired her to write
these twenty poems entitled "Nii youxian." Luo Qilan keenly realizes that in the youxian
poems of previous times, the depictions of female transcendents often focused on
women's physical beauty. She is not satisfied with such an erotized portrayal of female
transcendents under the male gaze. She claims, "I am [just] a woman with a mortal body
and meager talent who lacks the qualities of a transcendent." On the surface, she seems
to be so modest that she cannot boast about herself, but it may also be understood that
Luo refuses to allow herself to be placed into the same category as those transcendents
who were described as seductive by male authors. Symbolically, even if she identifies
herself with these female transcendents, she certainly does not want to be just another
desirable object of the male gaze.
Traditionally beautiful female transcendents are sent to meet with mortals, usually
male, on earth. There are many descriptions of such encounters, such as the Queen
Mother of the West's meeting with King Mu H of the Zhou M (r. 1001-946BC) and
other emperors, the Divine Woman at Wu M. Mountain's meeting with the emperor of

365

Luo, Tingqiuxuan shiji, 3.11a/b.

166

Chu H (3rd-c. BC), and Lady Youying's ^ " ^ meeting with the literatus Xu Mi l^gf
(303-373).366 The men deemed qualified to meet female transcendents are often either
powerful emperors or talented literati. The frequent appearances of power and talent
indicate the following two points: first, Heaven is testing the human world by sending
female transcendents as seducers and messengers; second, literary men are powerful in
the sense that they are sophisticated enough to understand the transcendents' message,
and have the potential of one day becoming transcendents themselves. In these privileged
encounters, gender plays a critical role where the opportunities to meet heavenly
messengers and reach transcendence are primarily, if not solely, reserved for men, and a
beautiful female immortal often serves as the medium to introduce the men to Heaven.
Consequently, female beauty becomes a symbol for the lure of Heaven. In this context,
the male literati's ultimate interest in female transcendents takes another turn in that the
real interest is not in the women themselves, but for immortality or the heavenly joy that
they represent.
In these male literati texts, the female transcendent becomes an eroticized symbol
of ultimate transcendence. Probably because of the fact that the very nature of the
immortal world is largely based on human imagination, the portrayal of the female
transcendents bears mundane characteristics. For example, it was very popular in the
Tang for male poets to write about female transcendents, and this echoed the
contemporary literary trend of writing about female Daoists. The down- to-earth passion
for the female immortals and Daoists transformed these two groups of women into the

See Suzanne E. Cahill, Transcendence and Divine Passion: the Queen Mother of the West in Medieval
China (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1993), 43-58; Knechtges, Wenxuan, vol. 3, 325-49; and Paul W.
Kroll, "Seduction Songs of One of the Perfected," in Religions of China in Practice, ed. Donald Lopez
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996), 180-87.

167

equivalent of courtesans.

Such a seductive image of female transcendents gives the

genre of youxian an air of lust and allure. In the Ming-Qing period, such a tradition
continued to be recognized. As the Ming critic Zhong Xing commented, "Youxian poems
are all about passionate love, deep and subtle." 368 Instead of seeking to replicate or
serve as a third-party observer of the passionate encounter between female transcendents
and human men, however, Luo Qilan positions herself as a human woman who seeks the
transcendence exemplified by these female immortals. Through the images of the
heavenly women, she attempts to explore new possibilities for women's life on earth.
When Luo Qilan discusses her twenty poems, she associates herself with the Tang
male poet Cao Tang who was famous for his youxian poetry, especially his ninety-eight
poems entitled "Xiao youxian." The contemporary scholar Li Fengmao argues that Tang
poets tried various methods to create something new within the genre of youxian shi, but
without much success. However, Cao Tang, who created the subgenre known as "Xiao
youxian" was the most creative of Tang poets who wrote in this genre. 369 Luo Qilan,
who tells us she was inspired by Cao Tang's work, stands out among other women poets
who wrote in this genre.
According to Robyn Hamilton, Luo Qilan often made it a practice to call on the
"male cultural framework for her own ends." 370 For example, the name of her studio,
Tingqiu Xuan ISfCff (Studio for listening to the sounds of autumn), is an allusion to the

367

Xu, Tangdaifunu, 219-36.

Zhong, Mingyuan shigui, 33.22a.

369

Li, You yu you, 180.

370

Robyn Hamilton, "The Pursuit of Fame: Luo Qilan (1755-1813) and the Debates about Women and
Talent in Eighteenth-century Jiangnan," Late Imperial China 18, no.l (1997): 45.

168

"Qiusheng fu "$MM,

(Rhapsody on the sounds of autumn) by the famous male writer

Ouyang Xiu HfcBIH^ (1007-1072). However, this does not mean that Luo Qilan was
merely an insignificant follower of male tradition and did not dare break male rules. As
Hamilton keenly points out, her reference to male models represents Luo Qilan's strategy
of "maintaining her public respectability and making a name for herself," since women's
talent was still controversial in the eighteenth century. 371 In fact, when Luo had firmly
established her poetic reputation, she bravely debated with those men who doubted the
authenticity or criticized the quality of her works because she was a woman. She used
the poems in Book of Songs which were said to be written by women to dispute the
prejudice that writing was not appropriate for women. 372
In Luo's preface to "Nti youxian," she proposes a rhetoric of humility in
comparing herself to Cao Tang. However, it is important to notice that she does not say
that she cannot write poetry as well as Cao Tang, but only that she does not plan to write
as many as he did. In other words, she implies, if the quality of her twenty poems is
compared to that of Cao Tang's ninety-eight, hers will not be found lacking. Also, Luo
Qilan makes clear that she is not simply imitating the tradition of xiao youxian. Instead,
she makes her poems unique by emphasizing the character nil, indicating an independent
subgenre exclusively about female transcendents with a female authorship.
Luo Qilan's twenty poems are all quatrains with seven syllables per line. It is not
presumed that there is any particular connection between these poems, other than the fact
that each poem focuses on one female transcendent. Maureen Robertson points out that

Idema and Grant, Red Brush, 612-15.

169

women poets had no choice but to write within the literary tradition that male writers had
established; however, they also tried to explore how to let their own voices be heard. Reinscribing the traditional poetic images was an important strategy for Ming-Qing women
poets to create their own voice.373 This is precisely what Luo attempts to do here. Her
reversal of the poetic focus from the erotic encounter to the individual female subject
transforms the female images from an "object for desire," a textual symbol for the sake of
men, to literary images valuable for their own sake:
Who hung that bright mirror in front of my painted tower?
This circle of pure brilliance has always been round like this.
If Heng'e [Chang'e] had not struggled to be all alone,
Who would there have been to rule the moon?

mmmmmmm, -jmft^iii.
^^.mmmm^, ttxtmrnmn.374
The subject of this poem is Chang'e, the legendary woman who became a transcendent
after stealing elixir from her husband Hou Yi Ja # . He had obtained it from the Queen
Mother of the West who is in charge of immortality. Before he had the chance to ingest
it however, Chang'e secretly took it and flew to the moon, becoming the moon
goddess.375 Chang'e has been a popular image for poets throughout Chinese literary
history. This poem contrasts significantly with one of Cao Tang's "Xiao youxian" which
is also about Chang'e. It is possible that Luo Qilan purposefully wrote her Chang'e poem
in contrast to Cao's as she was familiar with his works and mentioned him in her preface.
Cao Tang's poem is as follows:
373

Robertson, "Voicing the Feminine."

374

Luo, Tingqiuxuan shiji, 3.11b.

375

See Gao You MM (fl. 200), annotator, "Laiming xun" H^KH, i n Huainan zi zhu *MWlr&. (Taibei:
Shijieshuju, 1962), 6.98.

170

Because he forgot to have someone lock the inner palace,

The cinnabar disappeared: leaving only an empty jade pot.
If Chang'e had not stolen the elixir of immortality,
How could she have won eternal life on the moon?

mm^^wm, IM#II,B+.376
The two images of Chang'e differ because the protagonist's action is defined in
opposite ways. Luo considers it the sacrifice of a hero, whereas Cao depicts it as the
selfish deed of a thief. To Luo, Chang'e's independence is difficult to achieve in a
human relationship on earth, because the gender norms did not allow women to be
leaders. However, being alone on the moon allows Chang'e to be in command at the
Guanghan Palace, although it also means a loss of her identity as Hou Yi's wife. For Cao
Tang, only men could transform into immortals by taking the elixir, and women were not
allowed to get closer to the male space of alchemy. Even in the sphere of achieving
immortality, women should be locked in the inner palace to secure the right use of the
elixir. The Luo-Cao debate boils down to the issue of women and power/authority. Cao
Tang defends the traditional gender division of inner and outer, and immortality becomes
another privilege of men that excludes women. Such an interpretation of the gender
spaces described in these two poems not only includes the division of inner and outer, but
also of the higher in Heaven and the lower on earth. Yet Luo Qilan's image of Chang'e
shatters all of these boundaries, because her Chang'e not only breaks out of the family,
but also rules the Guanghan Palace in the sky. Her re-inscription dismisses Cao Tang's
virtue-less Chang'e and praises instead her spirit of self-sacrifice and proactive leadership.

Quan Tangshi, 641.7399.

171

Other male poets follow the Tang poet Li Shangyin's ^ ^ B (ca. 813-ca. 858)
way of depicting Chang'e: expressing sympathy for her lonely life on the moon. In his
poem, Li Shangyin writes:
Against the screen of "mother-of-clouds" the candle throws its deep
sorrow;
The Long River gradually sinks, the morning star sets.
Chang'e should regret having stolen the elixir:
The green seathe blue skyher heart every night!

mm^nft&'b.377

m&mwifa&m,

The term "should regret" (yinghui) reflects the poet's tendency of positioning Chang'e as
a remorseful sinner. The lonely and weak Chang'e in fact stands for Li Shangyin's
frequently-used strategy of depicting heavenly women as victims. He even describes the
most powerful Queen Mother of the West as a lonely and disconsolate woman waiting for
a lover who does not appear:
At the Jasper Pond, Queen Mother opened her painted window,
The sadness in the song of "Yellow Bamboo" shakes the ground.
The eight good horses ride thirty thousand li daily,
King Mu, why haven't you come yet?

mmwmMwm, tt w^mmmM*
378
A^B^H^M.

m^im^m*'?

In both Cao and Li's poems, there is a manifest tension between prescription and
description of Chang'e's behavior. In Cao Tang's poem, Chang'e should not have
become immortal, but she did; in Li Shangyin's version, Chang'e should have enjoyed
her companion on earth, but instead chose a lonely life on the moon. This tension may
377

"Chang'e" S $ t , in Quan Tang shi, 540.6250. The English translation is from James J. Y. Liu, The
Poetry of Li Shang-yin: Ninth-Century Baroque Chinese Poet (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press,
1969), 99.
378

Li, "Yaochi"igM (Jasper Pond), in Quan Tang shi, 539.6233.

172

reflect the male poets' moral judgment of Chang'e, namely that she does not follow what
a woman should do according to social norms. However, instead of the anger or
sympathy generated from the conventional moral judgment on women, Luo Qilan
expresses female pride in her poem. Here Chang'e's ideal and action are unified, and the
tension between social norms and personal desire is put aside. This move away from the
male-female system challenges the traditional gender norms and creates a new system in
which women can be themselves instead of depending on men for their sense of selfidentity.
This strong-minded Chang'e was not created by accident. Rather, I suggest that
as a literary creation, it also served as a way for Luo Qilan to answer her own gender
questions, both personal and collective. It is personal because similar to Chang'e, she
lost her husband and became a widow. According to all accounts, Luo enjoyed a
companionate marriage with her husband Gong Shizhi U t t t ^ (fl. 18 th -c). They often
enjoyed exchanging poems with each other at home. Gong died early, and according to
Wang Wenzhi 3E3t^n (1730-1802), who wrote a preface for Luo Qilan's poetry
collection Tingqiu xuan shiji IH^ClR- WfM (Poetry collection from the Studio for
Listening to eh Sounds of Autumn), most of her extant poems were written after her
husband's death. 37 It is quite possible, then, that she wrote the "Nu youxian" poem as a
widow. Her loss of a good husband was perhaps the major reason for her pain, but just as
for many Ming-Qing women, her later struggles with the family and the clan of the
husband posed tougher challenges. In a companionate marriage, women's lower status
intrinsically came from the family system, not from a particular man. It was not a battle
379

See the preface written by Wang Wenzhi, in Luo's Tingqiu xuan shiji.

173

between a woman and a man, but a woman and her affines, even when some men were
actually on the women's side.
Despite prevalent literary constructions by male poets about widows determined
to maintain a chaste widowhood, or state policies encouraging and rewarding female
chastity, women poets themselves often lamented the financial and spiritual hardship of
being a widow. In fact, suicide was often an easier way out than living on with the
hardship, even the violence, which women often dealt with. 38 Grace S. Fong, for
example, brings to light the story of Ling Zhinii i^K^C (1806-1827), who was already a
widow at the age of nineteen. Because of their tight economic situation, her husband's
family forced her to remarry. When Ling protested, they threatened her with a lawsuit.
Facing this situation, Lmg committed suicide.

While Luo Qilan may not have had to

face legal pressures, she certainly had to develop and strengthen an independent spirit in
order to survive as a widow. As shown in her re-inscription of the image of the sad
Chang'e, she "reverses" her own sorrow in a more positive direction: being a leader who
influences others.
Let us examine again the first two lines of Luo Qilan's "Chang'e" poem: "Who
hung the bright mirror in front of my painted tower? / This circle of pure brilliance has
always been round like this."

The dusty mirror is a conventional trope in a boudoir

setting where an abandoned/lonely woman is waiting for her husband or lover in vain.
She does not have the heart for making herself beautiful, and the mirror gradually
380

Chang, Kang-i Sun, "Guafu shiren de wenxue 'shengyin'," I E S A f i t t ^ " S W ' i n Gudianyu
xiandai de nuxing chanshi ~i$k$fkM{X W ^ t t K I ^ P (Feminist readings: classical and modern perspectives)
(Taibei: Lianhe wenxue, 1998), 85-109. Also see the articles in the special issue of Nan Nii: Men, Women
and Gender in Early and Imperial China 3, no.l (2001).
381

Fong, "Signifying Bodies," 128-35.

174

becomes covered with dust. The dusty mirror symbolizes men's control over women's
happiness, which is in fact often utilized by male literati to vent their own frustrations
over losing political favor with their rulers.382 Luo Qilan's "bright mirror" breaks and
replaces the dusted mirror (for a subordinate woman) through the reconstruction of
Chang'e's new role on the moon. She uses the order in the immortal world to fight
against unfair human norms. The shining mirror reflects more possibilities for women.
Not only does the painted tower have its reflection in the mirror-like moon, but so does
the female mortal who is sitting in the tower. Here the immortal and the mortal worlds
merge into one and the female transcendent and the female mortal become one. Through
the reflection of the mirror-like moon, the woman (probably Luo Qilan) is gazing at
herself. She sees what she wants to see: an independent Chang'e / Luo Qilan with a
strong sense of leadership. Therefore the key image of the poem is in the end, not
primarily Chang'e and her immortal world, but rather the woman who struggles to be a
female leader in the mundane world. To Luo Qilan, female leadership was not just a
matter of poetic fantasy; in her real life, she was a female leader. For example, after her
husband died, her clan often gathered together to discuss family issues. Whenever a
decision could not be made, Luo Qilan would stand up and give a speech which would
convince others. In another example, although her family was not rich, she often used
money to help those in need.383 Here the poet in life and the poetic subject responded
well to each other!
382
Anne M. Birrell, "The Dusty Mirror: Courtly Portraits of Woman in Southern Dynasties Love Poetry," in
Expressions of Self in Chinese Literature, ed. Robert E. Hegel, and Richard C. Hessney (New York:
Columbia University Press, 1985), 33-69. For a full study of literati men using female voices, see Paul F.
Rouzer, Articulated Ladies: Gender and the Male Community in Early Chinese Texts (Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Asia Center, 2001).

Luo, Tingqiuquan shiji, preface.

175

Luo Qilan's poetic persona reflects her personal experience in a certain sense, but
its significance also goes beyond autobiography, and reaches out to women's collective
concerns. In a strict sense, a widow is a woman whose husband has died. However, in
the Ming-Qing period, the connotation of widowhood was much wider than its basic
definition. Many intellectual women whose husbands were still alive were actually
leading a widow's life. As Susan Mann in her recent study on the Changzhou Zhang
family shows, the men in the family such as Zhang Qi 3REt (fl. 19 c.) and Wang Xi
frequently traveled far from home. These husbands often could not even support
themselves, not to mention family. So basically the women of the family were forced to
weave to make money to sustain themselves, to support the old and raise the young
without any help from the men who were busy pursuing their careers outside the home.
Mann's study is important in that it raises our awareness of widowhood as an even
more wide-spread social phenomenon and necessary condition that cannot be ignored in
discussions of women's consciousness-raising during this period. Namely, social norms
placed married women in a passive position as dependents, but in reality they had to be
independent just to survive. Such a social reality expands Luo Qilan's response from a
widow's specific case to a more universal situation: women with a high intellectual level
started to express their active thoughts of how to live an independent life in their poems.
So this desire for independence was an inevitable result of their role as the "widow," left
out of their husbands' seemingly lifelong journeys.

Zhang Qi was the father, and Wang Xi was Zhang Qi's daughter Zhang Wanying's husband. See Susan
Mann, Talented Women, 196-200. Also see my discussion on Wang Xi in Chap. 3.
385

Ibid., 196-200.

176

Another perspective from which to look at Chang'e's choice of the solitary life is
to link it to its religious aspects. Having left her husband to live alone in the Guanghan
Palace, Chang'e is, in a way, choosing to live a life usually associated with that of a nun.
In late imperial China, for various reasons women became nuns and realized their
leadership role in religious spheres. As Beata Grant's studies on the Buddhist nuns in the
seventeenth century show, women not only found comfort and enlightenment in the
nunnery, but also became Chan masters to carry on the lineage. 386 Undoubtedly, Luo
Qilan's image of Chang'e carries multiple meanings that reflect important aspects of
leadership experience for literary women in the secular and religious spaces in the MingQing period.
Luo Qilan's Chang'e suggests that female leadership involves self-sacrifice and
perhaps loneliness. But other poems in this nuyouxian series point to the enjoyment and
self-fulfillment to be found in a transcendent life. In the following poem, for example, a
female transcendent becomes a teacher who is enjoying her teaching:
Combing her cloud-like hair, she rearranges her green hairpin,
Burning the incense, she begins to recite her blue Daoist scripture.
From all over the heavens, phoenixes and cranes all come to listen,
Filling up the red steps in front of the jade trees.

^nmmmu, mmftn^mm*387
In this poem the central image is a female transcendent who is not only beautiful in
appearance, but who also possesses both a lovely voice and the religious authority, such
386

See Beata Grant, "Female Holder of the Lineage: Linji Chan Master Zhiyuan Xinggang (1597-1654),"
Late Imperial China 17, no.2 (1996): 51-76. Also see her article "The Red Cord United: Buddhist Nuns in
Eighteenth-century China," in Buddhist Women across Cultures: Realizations, ed., Karma Lekshe Tsomo
(Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1999), 91-104; Grant, Eminent Nuns: Women Chan Masters of SeventeenthCentury China (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2009).
387

Luo, Tingqiuxuan shiji, 3.13b.

177

that reciting her scriptures brings creatures from "all over the heavens" to listen. Her
recitation of the scripture does not appear to be out of boredom or personal despair, but
rather as a part of her personal and spiritual enhancement. The ritual of transmission is
represented in the poem from the burning of the incense and the attraction of the
phoenixes and cranes which symbolize immortality in the Daoist tradition. Clearly, the
woman here has become a religious leader. The fact that she possesses both religious
power and traditional feminine beauty reflects Luo Qilan's ideal that women do not have
to abandon their feminine features, i.e. become a man, in order to own power. This is
different from the traditional path, for as Daoist hagiography preaches, in order to
achieve the Dao, women have to become men first, and therefore feminine beauty can
become an obstacle on the way to Dao. For example, the respected female Quanzhen it
M Daoist Sun Bu'er J ^ ^ Z l (1119-1182), originally a beautiful woman, had to ruin her
face with hot oil to ensure her peace in Daoist cultivation.

Through the images of

Chang'e and this nameless transmitter, Luo Qilan is promoting a new image of ideal
women: beautiful, intelligent and spiritual. Such an idea is different from the norm, since
beauty here is for women's own sake, not for the needs of men; she confirms the value of
women's literary talent and uses religious beliefs to enrich the spiritual world in their
independent life. Ironically, women's beauty, literary talent and religious attachment are
all controversial in the traditional sense. Dynastic falls are often blamed on beautiful
women as in the famous examples of Baosi H M and Yang Yuhuan ^313H;

389

literary

Eva Wong, trans., The Seven Taoist Masters: A Folk Novel of China (Boston and London: Shambhala,
1990), 54-59. The book was a manual of Daoist training written around 1500. The authorship is unknown.
389

Bao Si was a concubine of King You ft (r. 781-771 B.C.) of the Zhou M dynasty. Yang Yuhuan was
Emperor Xuanzong's ~TK (r. 712-756) favorite consort in the Tang dynasty. Also see Anne E. McLaren,

178

talent, especially the ability of writing poetry, could lead to the loss of female domestic
virtue. This was exactly the focus of the well-known Yuan Mei-Zhang Xuecheng debate
on women's talent in the eighteenth century. Religious attachment was often suspected
in the fear that women would misbehave in the name of religious pursuits, as was stated
by officials such as Chen Hongmou (1696-1771). 390
The "new woman" image reflected in the female transcendents shows a strong
female subjectivity. Nevertheless, Luo Qilan does not remain in this transcendent world.
In fact, her other "Nii youxian" poems suggest "returning to the mundane world." The
transcendent world provides a care-free space for individuals, yet such a seemingly
perfect world, to Luo Qilan, is imperfect. On the one hand, if one is free from public
opinion, one may feel at peace; yet on the other hand, being away from the crowd means
that one will not be recognized (except perhaps by phoenixes and cranes). Ambitious as
she is, Luo Qilan clearly feels that women should try to earn an acknowledgment of their
talents while they are still alive, here in this mortal world:
Cailuan's nature was such that she delighted in her exile to a poor family:
Now she finds herself shy to compete with the other beautiful girls.
After returning to the Jasper Palace, she closes the doors behind her,
And continues to make her livelihood by writing out the Tangyun.

mmnmkp', mmnmimm391
trans, with an introduction, The Chinese Femme Fatale: Stories from the Ming Period (Sydney: Wild
Peony, 1994).
390

Susan Mann, "Fuxue (Women's Learning) by Zhang Xuecheng (1738-1801): China's First History of
Women's Culture," Late Imperial China 13, no. 1 (1992): 40-92. There was a famous debate between Luo
Qilan's teacher Yuan Mei and another scholar Zhang Xuecheng M^W. (1738-1801). Yuan Mei supported
women writing poetry while Zhang Xuecheng argued that women should not chase fame through writing
because she would not be able to handle the balance between fame and virtue; as a result, fame might hurt
womanly virtues. For Chen Hongmou's remarks on women and religion, see Mann, Precious Records,
195, and Rowe, "Women and the Family."
391

Luo, Tingqiuxuan shiji, 3.12a.

179

This poem centers on a female immortal by the name of Cailuan, who was
banished to earth from her heavenly home. She became the wife of a scholar named Wen
Xiao ~%M who was incapable of making a living and supporting his family. Cailuan
supported the family by writing out from memory Tang philologist Sun Mian's J^fiS (8 c.) guide for poets, the Tangyun Jftfl (Rhymes of the Tang). She wrote to support her
family for ten years, and eventually became known by the locals. In order to keep
Cailuan's immortal identity secret, they quietly moved to the Xinwu W\^t county. One
night, people-heard the sound of two tigers roaring and the next day Cailuan and her
husband had disappeared. Witnesses said that they flew to the mountains riding on two
tigers. 392 According to this hagiography, Cailuan breaks the traditional family pattern of
man being in charge of the outer and woman the inner, since she is the bread winner of
the family. She is also, if the ending of this story is any indication, the one who helps her
husband attain transcendence.
Cailuan's story well illustrates Luo Qilan's point that fame is important for
women. In Cailuan's case, it would appear that she has to first achieve fame in the
mortal world (in this case for her writing) in order to end her banishment and return to
her original home in the heavens. If she had not kept writing, she would not have been
known, and then there would have been no emergency to quicken her return to the
immortal world. Her fame motivates her to move to another place where she and her
husband are picked up by tigers from the transcendent world. In other words, her
writings accumulate fame which then leads to the possibility of transcendence. In this
sense, under Luo Qilan's pen, Cailuan's salvation is tightly connected to the opportunity

392

Wang Jiangzhang 3LMM, Lidai shenxian shi JIHt#{lIl5& (Taibei: Xinwenfeng, 1979), 8.217.

180

to obtain fame. In the Ming-Qing period, ever more talented women expressed their
desire for fame. Luo Qilan was one of the most articulate of these women, and one of the
few who was not afraid to openly claim that her talents deserved acknowledgement.
While she was living in the world of mortals, Cailuan based her claim to fame on
her writing, which is what enabled her to return to her original home in the heavens. Once
she assumes her original status as an immortal, however, she no longer is compelled to
write. But she continues to write for pleasure, and this distinguishes her from other
immortals. It also points to her nostalgic feeling for the human world and, perhaps, a
continuing desire for recognition. Similarly, I would argue, Luo Qilan's desire for fame
was not only for her own personal fulfillment, but also represents a realization on her part
of the larger predicament of women's lack of recognition. In fact, "returning to the
human world" is a major theme in Luo Qilan's twenty "Nu youxian" poems. In the
eighteenth poem, for example, we find her describing a female transcendent who dreams
of engaging in literary games in the human world:
Since leaving the human world and ascending the jade stairs,
There has been no space in her heart for day-dreaming.
Her cloud-like hair loose by her face, she has just awoken:
Suddenly remembering their games of "grass and flower."

s # j j i , -Mttir^-WMo394
This verse is exactly the opposite of a regular youxian poem in which people daydream of
the transcendent world. Here, the speaker's dream reverses the hierarchical relation
between the transcendent and human worlds (upper/lower). Under Luo Qilan's pen, this
transcendent is at odds with herself: death is not a concern for her; what bothers her is
393

Hamilton, "Pursuit of Fame," 39-71.

394

Luo, Tingqiuxuan shiji, 3.13b.

181

that she can no longer enjoy the pleasures of the literary game known as doucao - 4 ^ ,
which requires writing poems that appropriately and cleverly match the names of various
grasses and flowers, with her female companions on earth. What Luo Qilan seems to be
saying here is that true transcendence is not necessarily to be found in the so-called
Heaven, but rather is something that people must discover and create for themselves in
the real world. By the same token, true immortality is not a matter of living forever, but
rather of establishing a literary name for oneself that can be enjoyed when one is alive
and which will continue to live on after one's death. Therefore, writing and the memory
that writing creates become an essential tool for enjoying the mundane world.
Luo Qilan's appreciation of immortality thus is transformed from admiring the
transcendent world to creating one's own transcendent space within the human world.
This point is further developed in the nineteenth poem:
Stars in the sky, like characters in the text, are as shiny as silver,
I am too lazy to learn Heaven's writing to control ghosts and gods.
Still, I have been unable to rid myself of my old attachment
To imitate Lady Wei's fine style of calligraphy.

x^mmnmt, m^mm^x*395
This poem skillfully draws together the observation of nature, the mastery of literary
tradition and the emphasis on literary women to create a female image. One of the
Chinese traditional theories on the function of literature, especially poetry, is to
communicate with ghosts and gods, linking poetry with supernatural power.396 Here
however, the female speaker does not dwell on the privilege, but would prefer to follow

Wang, Zhongguo gudai wenlun, 18-19.

182

the human predecessor Lady Wei, a fourth-century calligrapher, who was said to be the
teacher of the famous calligraphers Wang Xizhi 3 i l i i ( 3 0 3 - 3 6 1 or 321-379) and Wang
Xianzhi 3EHfc, (344-386).397 Writing a poem in Lady Wei's calligraphic style not only
symbolizes the female lyrical speaker's literary talent, but her desire for female
leadership.
Starting from the late Ming, many women poets tried to follow the ideal of female
leadership. Shang Jinglan was the wife of the loyalist martyr Qi Biaojia ^PjHii (16021645), and in 1645, she became a widow. Shang Jinglan wrote the following poem to
another woman poet Huang Yuanjie

who visited her home in Shaoxmg in the mid-

1650s:
To the Female Teacher Huang Yuanjie
You have locked yourself behind the door at Penglai 399for ten years,
How did I expect to see your hermitage residence in the distance of a
thousand If!
Your talent directly ranks after Ban Zhao 40
Your literary pursuits surpass those of Zuo Fen.401
Of eight styles, your calligraphy is wonderful,
Your rhapsody is as good as Sima Xiangru402 thousands of years ago,
Today at our close meeting, we cherish each other with the same aspirations,
Then I started to believe in the story of the former lady collator. 403
397

Lady Wei's name is Wei Shuo ffiWk- Luo Zhufeng MfsM. et al, eds., Hanyu dacidian W&~XM&,
3(Shanghai: Hanyu dacidian chubanshe, 2001), 1094.
398

See my discussion on Shang Jinglan and Huang Yuanjie in chap. 2.

399

Penglai is an immortal island.

vol.

400

The term Banji can also refer to the talented palace woman Concubine Ban iEM$f (ca. 48 BC), Ban
Zhao's great-aunt.
401

Zuo Fen 5:2? (fl. 275) was a talented woman writer, the younger sister of Zuo Si 5 S (ca. 253-ca.307).

402

Sima Xiangru ^\ Hffl^H (179-117 BC) is the best-known writer of rhapsody in Chinese literary history.

403

The lady collator refers to the Tang courtesan poet Xue Tao.

183

mrmmnmfr
*mMm&M&, %&%&&&-

4-mtegmmm, &mn^iz&m404
Huang Yuanjie, zi Jieling W'Q, a native of Xiushui ^IzK (modern Jiaxing H H ) ,
Zhejiang, was skilled at poetry, calligraphy and painting. The first two lines compare
Huang Yuanjie to a female transcendent who dedicated herself to studies in the
immortal land of Penglai, and the rest of the lines compare her to famous male and
female literati. The title of the poem is "To the Female Teacher Huang Yuanjie." A
teacher, of course, plays a leader's role in educating women, and in referring to Huang
this way, Shang Jinglan not only praises Huang Yuanjie, but also asserts women's
talent and leadership. Similar to the female transcendents in Luo Qilan's youxian
poems, Ming-Qing women either became female leaders themselves or at the very
least, expressed their deep admiration for female leaders in the human world. In other
words, while Luo Qilan may seem to "only talk about women wandering in the
immortal world" in her youxian poems, she is, in fact, reflecting some of the emerging
ideals and actions of late imperial women. For instance, Shang Jinglan herself was
already a literary leader in her hometown Shaoxing. Her poetic image of Huang
Yuanjie as both a female transcendent and a human leader and her own roles as a

404

Wang Qishu S.WM, comp., Xiefangji W^M (1785-1795), 15.15b. Dorothy Ko also translated this
poem in her book Teachers, 231. Also see her note on p. 338. Ko claimed Youfu was a calligrapher, but
could not identify her. I argue that the term youfu (young woman) does not refer to a person, but refers
to the Chinese character miao j& (wonderful) with the character nil ^C(woman) on the left and the
character shao 4>(young) on the right. So the fifth line is recognizing Huang Yuanjie's wonderful skill
of calligraphy.

184

widow and a leader are strikingly similar to the images and spirits represented by Luo
Qilan's "Nii youxian."
Among the talented women mentioned by Shang Jinglan, the poet lists Ban
Zhao and Zuo Fen of the Han dynasty and Xue Tao of the Tang, which demonstrates
an attempt by Ming-Qing women to legitimize their own writing by referring to female
predecessors. Huang Yuanjie was good at composing rhapsodies, and so Shang
Jinglan compares her to the male rhapsody master Sima Xiangru in the Han. This
insertion of the male writer in the women's literary tradition that Shang Jinglan builds
in this poem reveals her position that the women's tradition is part of mainstream
Chinese literature, and not simply a separate (and marginal) tributary. In her article,
"Women and Literary History," Dale Spender points out that the rise of women writers
in the eighteenth century was not really a sudden phenomenon that came out of
nowhere, but rather that women had been a continual presence in English literature
long before this. The ignorance of women's continuous contribution lies in the
problematic assumption that literary history is created by a few select (and almost
always male) literary figures.405 Shang Jinglan's construction of literary history
utilizes both approaches mentioned in Spender's argument. Shang Jinglan argues that
the Ming-Qing period witnessed the birth of female geniuses such as Huang Yuanjie;
however, she also points to the fact that this was not an abrupt phenomenon but a
continuous tradition on the part of women writers from the Han to the Tang periods.
On the other hand, the fact that the names she refers to are those of the few female
literary figures already recognized by men points to the difficulty in tracing women's
405

Dale Spender, "Women and Literary History," in The Feminist Reader: Essays in Gender and the
Politics of Literary Criticism, ed. Catherine Belsey and Jane Moore (Cambridge, MA and Oxford:
Blackwell, 1989), 21-33.

185

literary tradition: the lack of preserved materials. It reveals the obvious power contrast
in the literary field between men and women, and it equally proves the significance of
the rediscovery of writings by Ming-Qing women that apparently played a
revolutionary role in shedding new light on women's contribution to Chinese literature
in quantity and quality.
As far as we know, Luo Qilan is the first woman poet to entitle her poems "Nu
youxian." After her, three other Qing women poets, Gu Taiqing, Ling Zhiyuan, and
Gao Fengge also wrote poems with the same title. I have not found direct evidence
showing that these three poets had read Luo Qilan's poems. However, according to an
1844 version of Guochao guixiu shichao I S i ^ l f l ^ I f # (A collection of Qing gentry
women's poems), a woman named Wu Yunhua p^izjlp gave Luo Qilan's poems to
another woman as a parting gift. Wu's poem is entitled "Jiang zhi Dongxiang yi Luo
Qilan Tingqiuxuan shi liubie Ziqiong mei"

%%ZMM&^M^^fFlfS^JIUlM

(Before departing for Dongxiang, I gave Luo Qilan's Poetry Collection from the Studio
for Listening to the Sounds of Autumn to my younger sister Ziqiong as a goodbye gift).
Wu Yunhua calls herself "Dongxiang xiaocha" 3f[#MN^r (little tea from Dongxiang)
which means she comes from Dongxiang, Jiangxi flCH, a place famous for producing
a certain tea. Her poem provides evidence that at least by 1844, Luo Qilian's poems
were being circulated among women outside her hometown of Jurong 'RJ W.406 By
extension, it is not unreasonable to assume that Gu Taiqing, Ling Zhiyuan and Gao
Fengge, who lived between the end of the eighteenth century and the mid-nineteenth

406

Wu Yunhua, Yanghuaxuan shichao #;ffi:I#fe!>, in Cai, Guochao guige shichao. The poem is on
9.30a/b.

186

century, had access to Luo Qilan's poetry collection, in which the twenty poems of "Nil
youxian" are included.

Niiyouxian and Women's Religious Cultivation: Gu Taiqing and Ling Zhiyuan

Although Gu Taiqing and Ling Zhiyuan's poems are also exclusively about
female transcendents, they are different from Luo Qilan's. While Luo's transcendents
look back with a certain longing to the human world, Gu and Ling's poems are more
conventional in that they inherit the youxian shi traditions of longing for longevity and
venting dissatisfaction with the human world. However, in these two women's poems,
their admiration for female transcendents is mixed with their proposals for changing
women's lives through religious cultivation.
Gu Taiqing, who I will discuss in more detail in Chapter Five, was a Manchu
woman married to a prince named Yihui ^ $ | as his concubine. She was especially
famous for her ci poems, in one of which she writes:
I cherish flowers but I do not dream sadly in spring,
If I enjoy the emptiness Heaven and Earth will become wider.407

These two lines reflect Gu Taiqing's optimistic use of religious belief to overcome
difficulties in real life. The lines mention becoming sad in the spring, which is an
extremely popular theme for women's poetry. However, because of her philosophical
attitude towards life, the speaker does not dwell on sentimentality upon seeing fallen
flowers. Instead she sees beyond the conventional motifs and uses the Buddhist and
Daoist concept of emptiness (xuwu) to break various boundaries, including stepping
407

Zhang, Heji, 116.

187

out of the ordinary emotions of the inner quarters, and this broadens her mind. The
enjoyment of emptiness is connected to Gu Taiqing's religious cultivation in life. Gu
Taiqing had a strong belief in Daoism, and in fact, Taiqing is her Daoist style name
corresponding to her husband Yihui's Daoist style name Taisu JS.M- The insertion of
the religious perspective not only makes the lines convey some sense of preaching, but
also introduces an optimistic world view to make it less sentimental and more
transcendent. Namely, she argues that although we cherish the flowers in spring and
possibly are saddened by the brevity of their flourishing, we do not need to worry.
Rather we need to go beyond these thoughts to understand that the whole world is
ultimately an illusion. The speaker travels in an imagined empty but wide space,
trying to transcend mundane suffering.
One important theme for poets who are fascinated with the genre of youxian is
their hope to transcend their earthly suffering through writing. As a Manchu aristocrat,
Gu Taiqing's social status and literary talent were highly respected, so much so that
even the famous male literatus Chen Wenshu |^3ti! (1771-1843) wanted to make
friends with her. 408 However, after Yihui's death, Gi Taiqing had conflicts with the
first wife's son or her mother-in-law and was forced to move out and support herself
and her family on her own.

Religious comfort probably helped her to relieve

frustration during that hard time.

But Gu Taiqing despised Chen Wenshu and refused to get involved. See her poem in Zhang, Heji, 116.
409

Zhang, Heji, 104. According to the long title of a poem, "On the Seventh Day of the Seventh Month,
My husband Departed This World and on the Twenty-eighth Day of the Tenth Month, I was Ordered to
Take My Two Sons, Jian and Chu, and My Two Daughters, Shuwen and Shuyi, Leave the House and Move
Out of the Neighborhood. Since We Had Nowhere to Go, I Sold Off My Gold Phoenix Hairpins, and by So
Doing Was Able to Get a Place to Live." The English translation is from Idema and Grant, Red Brush, 633.

188

In the following poem from her nil youxian series, Gu Taiqing creates a carefree
female group by proposing a pleasure trip to enjoy the wide Heaven and Earth:
Exquisite dresses refine our slim waists,
Waving in the cool wind, the green hairpins are quivering.
Returning from the literary game of "grass and flower," I invite my
female friends,
To climb to the top of Lotus Peak to enjoy the spring waves.

m^m&Micft, mm^mmmm*410
In another poem from this series, instead of contemplating mental/spiritual
transcendence in her mind from within the woman's inner quarters, she begins to
challenge the idea of gendered space from the perspective of a bystander. Earlier in
this chapter, Cao Tang's view of gendered space in the religious sphere was mentioned,
in which he appears to advocate that, even in the religious sphere, men should have the
privilege over women. There should be a spatial division between the alchemy room
(male, immortality) and the inner quarters (female, death). The following poem by Gu
Taiqing stands in sharp contrast to Cao Tang's position:
The shadow of her hair and her fragrant clothes are free of dust,
One scripture is completed with fresh ink not yet dry.
For calligraphy, she carefully dips her brush in the dew
on the lotuses,
By herself, she is writing on alchemy and takes beautiful female
transcendents as her teachers.

mmmm^mm, ^ s i . 4 1 1
In this poem, Gu Taiqing argues that education and practice rather than privilege based
on gender are the necessary steps to immortality, and women can also reach this goal
410

Zhang, Heji, 115.

Ibid.

189

through self-cultivation. She establishes a lineage for the girl described in this poem
by associating her with her female teachers, which legitimizes the validity of female
enlightenment. This literary power enables the protagonist to understand and write
about the scripture. The female lineage and literary talent make a woman's
immortality possible.
Gu Taiqing's eight poems are entitled "Niiyouxian, sheke." Sheke %tM. means
the topic for a poetry club activity. Gu Taiqing was involved in a female Begonia
Poetry Club in Beijing and "Nii youxian" might have been a topic for their literary
activities. In this context, the subgenre of niiyouxian represented a close JiangnanBeijing cultural interaction.
Ling Zhiyuan, zi Yuanchai fiiW, was a native of Qiantang t i ^ t , Zhejiang. She
was the second daughter of Ling Dafu WlM^i, and was married to Ding Bing T M
(1832-1899), zi Songsheng $ ^ , from a prosperous family in nearby Hangzhou >fenl'M,
Zhejiang. She enjoyed a companionate marriage and often exchanged poems her
husband. In fact, it was Ding Bing who finally published her poetry collection after
her death and asked many authors to write a preface for it. An outstanding
characteristic of these prefaces or biographies is that the critiques of her poetry are
almost always indistinguishable from comments on her filial piety or the virtue that is
said to be exemplified in her poetry. Ling Zhiyuan's uncle, Zhu Cheng yfc!$, for
example, provides a detailed description of her filial efforts to cure her mother's illness:
At the time, my sister became ill from the wind, and since Zhiyuan missed
her mother terribly she often went back to give her her medicine. She
never grew tired of such service no matter whether it was cold or hot,
day or night. Just from this, we can know how filial she was! In the
spring of the year of renzi [1852], my sister's illness was getting

190

worse, so Zhiyuan walked on her knees to pay respect to various

temples, swearing to cure my sister's illness at the risk of her own life.
Soon after, my sister recovered, yet my niece became ill. Alas, how
fast Heaven responded to Zhiyuan's wish! I heard when she [Zhiyuan]
was sick, she tactfully said to my sister: "I am not a filial daughter, and
cannot serve you for life. Now I am going to die, please don't miss me
too much." When she was dying, my sister caressed her and cried
hard, saying: "you really will die for me! After you leave, what shall I
do?" Zhiyuan kept her eyes open and shook her head. It seemed that
she had something to say but the speech was stuck in her throat so she
could not finish it. She probably wanted to stop my sister from being
too sad, but it was unintelligible.

m^ttM&M.m,

&#M,

&mmmm, K

M M

n, BPithnTjy^n,, iti : f#, , ^BO mmtt&m

mmmm, *MTC. *H, &m&mmft&o m&mKW&u&mz
m^m^ti^^it. n R$mm, nmz^z, WIRB-. &*ft
iifime^rRT 0

412

The uncle's preface does not really tell us much about Ling's poetry: it does tell us a lot
about her filial piety:
Every time I feel sad about her filial piety, I exclaim over the fact that she
composed many poems. The emotions in the poems are graceful and gentle,
which reflects her talent, not just including poetic talent. It is unfortunate that
luck and intelligence cannot coexist, and she was ruined by her intelligence.
Now Songsheng has published her poems and has asked me for a preface. I am
not good at poetry and do not mind whether these poems could be circulated or
not. But since they are the reflections of her graceful and gentle filial piety,
they should not be buried in history. Therefore I wrote a few words to explain
her story which you can either consider to be about her poetry or about her
filial piety.

^mm^rn, M.m^BZwm %mzmmmm, 5fcww, *

wm&mx&te. mnMJf&AL, ^mu^zm* ^w&m%mn
ttm&mmmm&n^, wf#, ^^namzmnm^o w^mmm
m, mmffifg, um^nmu^o
ftnmmumm*,mmmmm^, m
413
#, W n T o
412

Zhu Cheng, preface, in Ling, Cuiluoge shicigao.

413 .

'Ibid.

191

This preface describes Ling Zhiyuan's death as a response to her plea from Heaven.
One can pursue this line of thinking to speculate that after Ling's death she must have
ascended to become a female transcendent. Putting the credibility of the story aside,
Ling herself did express a desire for the immortal world in her poems, four of which
are entitled "Nii youxian."
Like Gu Taiqing, Ling Zhiyuan emphasizes Daoist cultivation. However, while
Gu Taiqing only writes about the philosophical idea of Daoist cultivation, Ling
Zhiyuan focuses on actual practices engaged in by Daoist women. In her poetry
collection Cuiluoge shicigao W-MMWfWlWl (A collection of shi and ci poems from the
Tower of Green Spiral Shell), the four poems are arranged in an interesting way: the
first and the fourth poems are about the leader of female Daoist immortals, the Queen
Mother of the West, while the middle two are about women Daoist practitioners here
on earth. Such an arrangement indicates the protective relationship between the Queen
Mother and the female practitioners. It also portrays the female practitioners as a
medium for the dialogue between the human world and heavenly power. The female
Daoists do not just admire the female transcendent; they also try to become
transcendents themselves through self-cultivation. In this process, daoguan ifiH
(Daoist temples) become important sites, and Ling Zhiyuan indicates that serving at
the temples is an effective way to immortality:
They wear magnificent, plain or Daoist yellow garments,
And call the companions to quickly step onto the carriage with
extraordinary fragrance.
Only because humans are unaware of the immortal Jade Peak,
The famous flowers began to love the Tangchang Temple.

192

R*A, ftgJf ^

414

The poem is based on a Daoist hagiography:

The Tangchang Temple, located in the Anye District of Chang'an, used to have
Yurui flowers. Whenever they bloomed, the blossoms looked as if they formed
a jade forest. In the middle of the Yuanhe period, in early spring, many visited
there by carriage or horse. One day, a girl of seventeen or eighteen showed up.
She was wearing a green embroidered garment with two hair buns hanging on
the side without earrings or hairpins. She looked gentle and beautiful, and stood
out among the crowd. She was accompanied by two female Daoists and three
maids, dignified and beautiful beyond match, all of whom had their hair done
up in simple buns and wore yellow garments. Then she dismounted and,
covering her face with a fan with a handle made of white ox horns, went
directly to the flower room. This group of visitors smelled unusually fragrant,
which could be sensed many steps away. Since the audience suspected they
came from the inner palace, they dared not stare at them. Standing there for a
while, the girl asked the maids to pick several flowers and came out of the
room. Right before mounting, she said to the female Daoists in yellow
garments, "In the past I set up a trip to the Jade Peak, and I will go there now
from here." At the time, there were so many people watching, almost blocking
the way. They all felt the rising dirt and heard the cranes' screaming: the view
was splendid. After the horse ran for more than a hundred steps, the breeze and
dirt rose, sending the horse away. In a second, the dirt disappeared, and when
the audience looked at the girl, she was already riding in mid air. Only at this
time, the audience realized that the girl was an immortal. The remaining
fragrance of the girl lingered for over one month.

mm, mmnzn, m^mm, M M . mk~ic%. H/MI, W&

mmz, s u t L MTU, \>\&nmwm, &#>%, n##m.
mftfy-t-Pft. m%mtb&nm, Mmmmmz. 1TM.&X, ^im
mL&m&- mmm, mmn&m&: "m^mzm, &mx%* -B#
m#*nt, j&mnmmm, J^*W&. mws&#, mmmm, mz
i i . m&mm, Miasms, ummzm. &^WL%MR
c

415

Ling, Cuiluoge shicigao, 1.3a.

415

The story of the female transcendent at the Yurui Temple I ^ K ^ c f l l j , in Li Fang $ 8 $ (925-996) et al.
comps., Taipingguangji ^^FJftSE (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), 69.427-28.

193

The Tangchang Temple was named after Emperor Xuanzong's "ICTK (r. 712-756)
daughter Princess Tangchang, who became a Daoist. Yurui flowers only existed in this
temple. Because they looked as white as jade, people thought they were immortal jade
flowers.416 Because of the immortal girl's visit, the Tangchang Temple came to be
regarded as a sacred place where the immortal could meet with the mundane. This
story fits Ling Zhiyuan's emphasis on the search for immortality on the part of women
Daoists. In another poem, Ling Zhiyuan further emphasizes the importance of sincere
cultivation:
Her eyebrows are fragile and lovely, and she is just a child,
Her diet has sesame bearing a special fragrance.
On one chi of yinghuang,41 the newly-made silky paper,
Using tiny characters, she embroiders the Lotus Sutra.

-FMnm%m,

mmm&mwm418

This poem is about a Daoist laywoman who, although young, has sincere belief. For
example, her main food is sesame, a primary staple of the diet of a Daoist practitioner
of waidan ty\-f\ or outer alchemy; she embroiders the Buddhist Lotus Sutra on the
silky paper in order to accumulate merit for a better life. The combination of the

41

Scholars debated about whether yurui flowers refer to hontensia {qionghua !!!$:) Both yurui and
hontensia frequently appear in classical poems. For details of the debate, see Su Fangyu If 5J ^f, "Bufu
Guangling chun: wuzhong zhengyi yu shuxie yanbian xia de Songdai qionghua lunshu"?f>;HJif ! t # : $3f|

WM^MWiW^^^KMttM$1$,,

Donghua Zhongguo wenxueyanjiu M^M~X^W?l

(2006): 127-46.
41

Yinghuang (stiff yellow) refers to a certain type of paper. Because its yellowish color is good for
preservation, people often used it to copy sutras.
41

Ling, Cuiluoge shicigao, 1.3b.

194

Daoist outer alchemy, Buddhist scripture and the Confucian idea of women's work
(embroidery) reflect the synthesis of the three teachings in the Ming-Qing period. 419
Ling Zhiyuan's "Nii youxian" sheds some light on how a woman poet could use
the youxian genre to go beyond her spatial and social limitations, and both exercise her
literary talent and nourish her religious mind. In the last poem of this set, Ling
Zhiyuan vividly describes the grand party hosted by the Queen Mother of the West:
The Jasper Terrace party has started, and the wine cellar has been
opened,
Guests listen to a mixed music of string musical instruments
and the songs of phoenixes.
Quite a few maids are playing spiritual music,
Among the newly-made pieces, Dong Shuangcheng's ranks the first.

*'j>&ftmmm, mmmmmm^

420

Dong Shuangcheng frequently appears in poems as a reference to female transcendents.

Yu Kexiang ^f JSII, one of the preface authors, even goes so far as to compare Ling
Zhiyuan to the female transcendents Dong Shuangcheng and Xu Feiqiong PtM$iL. 421
In fact, in her poem "Fangge" Ling Zhiyuan takes the further step of writing herself
into a journey about roaming in the realm of the transcendents:
Singing Loudly
Unusual! Where does this guest come from?
He said he came from the south of Mount Kongtong.
Master Guangcheng transmits to me the secret of immortality in
person,
419

See Monica Esposito, "Daoism in the Qing (1644-1911)," in Daoism Handbook, ed. Livia Kohn (Leiden:
Brill, 2000), 623-58.

42

Ling, Cuiluoge shicigao, 1.3b.

421

See Li, Taiping guangji, 56.344-70.439 and Suzanne E. Cahill, trans, and annotator with an
introduction, Divine Traces of the Daoist Sisterhood: Records of the Assembled Transcendents of the
Fortified Walled City, Du Guangting (850-933) (Magdalena: Three Pines Press, 2006).

195

Shouting at the phoenixes [to get ready for the trip] he quickly packs.
He urges me to rearrange my rosy Daoist costume,
And helps me put on a cloud-like dress.
He whispers to me without raising his voice,
Granny at the Jasper Palace celebrates her birthday with wine today.
The coral is higher than the tree branches,
The huge pearl hung underneath the neck of the black dragon is as
big as a dipper.
Respectfully I kowtow towards the direction of the Jasper Pond nine
times,
The jade girl who is playing the game of pitch pot laughs out loud.
The golden boy grants me a cup of wine,
Once this wine touches your lips,
Heavenly men and women will live forever.
Lend me the whip of the God of Thunder,
Ride on my covered carriage from the Goddess of Cloud.
The girl Fragrance 422is pushing my carriage,
And she drives me back gracefully.
The Blue Bird 423 flies from the southeast,
Sending a letter to my desk,
The upper says: "I'll miss you forever,"
The lower says: "I do not want to leave."
Alas,
Who does not desire for immorality?
I pity my mundane form, for not succeeding in cultivation.

s-lfflI,TffflW.
sfm
422

A Xiang is a maid who pushes the carriage of the God of Thunder.

423

The blue bird is said to be the Queen Mother's messenger.

196

Attn, sm-t$o 424

Master Guangcheng refers to the immortal who lives at the Kongtong Mountain
(modern Linru Hli^C, Henan province). The ancestor of the Chinese people "Huangdi
had been on the throne for nineteen years, and his ordinances were in operation all
through the kingdom, when he heard that Guangcheng was living on the summit of
Kongtong, and went to see him."425 The Tang Daoist writer Du Guangting tt;)fc|l
(850-933) further identified Master Guangcheng as the founder of Daoism, Laozi 3k~fhimself. 426 Du Guangting also authored the Yongchengjixian lu M^Mi\iiM- (Records
of the assembled transcendents of the fortified walled city), which features all kinds of
female immortals from the Queen Mother of the West to the average transcendents.
This work probably circulated widely in late imperial China among women writers,
and may explain why female transcendents became such a prominent feature in
women's poetry, and in particular in the nuyouxian subgenre. The last line in the poem
quoted above, xiu weicheng (not yet succeed in cultivation) points to Ling Zhiyuan's
aspirations to immortality and emphasis on self-cultivation. Du Guangting wrote about
many examples of an ordinary woman becoming immortalized after self-cultivation.427
The aspiration to emulate these hagiographical examples reflects women's desire to go
beyond the ordinary, and ultimately to become a transcendent and to enjoy a life of
carefree ease and unrestrained mobility.
424

Ling, Cuiluoge shicigao, 4.1 la/b.

James Legge, trans., The Writings ofKwangsze, in The Sacred Books of China: The Texts of Taoism,
2 nd impression (London: Oxford University Press, 1927), 297.
426

Du Guangting, "Daode zhenjing guangsheng yi'^illl J t M l S J E I I , in Daozang MM, rpt. (Beijing:

Wenwu chubanshe, 1988), vol. 5, 112; vol.14, 319-20, 340.

427

See Cahill, Divine Traces.

197

Frequent Journeys and Playfulness in Gao Fengge's "Nii youxian"

Biographical information about Gao Fengge is scarce. The most informative
source is her brother Gao Fengtai's ifSJUHl postscript for her poetry collection, Yi gin yi
he xuan shicao 2 p H I T Wf # (A poetry manuscript from the Studio of One Zither and
One Crane):
In childhood, I began to study the Shi [Book of Songs] which started my
learning. I spent most of my time at a private school composing
pentasyllable or heptasyllabic poems. I rarely had classmates, and only
my older sister Peiwen [Gao Fengge] and younger sister Wuyun both
loved poetry and composed poems with me. Since my older sister was
especially intelligent, she and I would go on to read many more poems
written by the poets from the Han and Wei. We competed with each other in
discovering good lines to appreciate, therefore, although young she
already composed several dozens of poems.
My mother was very strict in managing the household, emphasizing that
women had women's own business, and forbade girls to do such things as
composing poems. However, my sister still read whatever she could read
and would not stop. Until I came back to my hometown after my journey to the
North, my sister's family had many difficulties, and she rented a house near my
residence. We lived closely and she often discussed poetry with me, which shows
that her passion for poetry never decreased. At last, she wrote one hundred
quatrains entitled "Nii youxian" whose meaning is floating. Whoever sees them
thinks that my sister had a desire for transcendence. Now my sister's tomb is
enveloped by old grass, and I am also weak and ill. Looking back to the past, it
feels as if being separated by another world. How can I hold no emotions besides
writing in ink for her? For my sister, I, her brother Gao Fengtai, compiled her
poems in this collection and wrote about her life in the second month of Jiachen
[1844] of the Emperor Daoguang's reign.

&m*]&m. BP^j&fc^^, M&xmm, M^^M* nw&mxR

#rtir> jticfww, vx^mmn, m<& mm%ffim>%
*itBtj}= 7&&immm, M&m&m, f t s e ^ , mmm% mmm

198

^0 ^Rmwit^, &jfmmim & , mnmnto 428

mmzn
tzmmmw mik&mmfrZ-o myt^mr-nmm^MMMo
According to Gao Fengtai's account, the "Nil youxian" poems are a major part of
Gao Fengge's poetry collection. In fact, of the four poets discussed in this chapter, Gao
Fengge wrote the most poems with this title. Unfortunately, in her existing collection, A
Poetry Manuscript from the Studio of One Zither and One Crane, only forty "Nu
youxian" of the one hundred quatrains mentioned by her brother have survived.
Although incomplete, these forty poems still serve as an invaluable source in exploring
how Gao Fengge approaches this subject. The most outstanding characteristic of Gao's
poems is her emphasis on frequent and playful journeys taken by heavenly women.
The heavenly women in Gao's quatrains are sometimes depicted individually, and
sometimes as a group. One poem on the Hemp Maiden (Ma Gu $M) goes as follows:
Since childhood, Hemp Maiden has loved playful wandering:
She travels through thousands of mountains and nine states.
Today, she pays respect to the Queen Mother at the Western Pond,
Smiling, she raises up her glass of fine wine and bows in respect.

4-0HMi#, ^mmmmm*429
Hemp Maiden is a well-known female transcendent, said to be covered with hair and with
hands the shape of birds' claws. She knows various magic skills such as turning a grain
of rice into a pearl, and has lived for so long that she has seen three major geographical
transformations of the world. 430 In other words, the long-lived Hemp Maiden is a
428

Gao, Yi gin yi he xuan shicao (early 19th - a ) , postscript, la/b.

429

Gao, Yi gin yi he, 2.12a.

430

For more information on the Hemp Maiden, see the story of Wang Yuan dEst and Cai Jing H&3 in
Taipingguangji, 60.369-70; Ge Hong M;-$k (283-343), Shenxian zhuan tt'flijfll, in Liexianzhuanjinyi,
Shenxianzhuanjinyi ^!HLL|4"B?, ffl{lllfll4~H, annotated by Qiu Heting fiPH^ (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui

199

recognized expert in how to journey across space and time. Moreover, she does so
without having to undergo the difficulties often experienced by female travelers on earth:
With moon-shaped jade pendant, beautiful clothes and purple jade ring,
Lady Miao carries wine from the immortal's world to earth.
Thousands of dangerous rivers, she wades at ease,
One petal of red lotus [women's red shoes], she comes and goes at will.

nmmm^^M, mummy\m.*
In this poem, Gao Fengge creates an immortal woman who easily overcomes the
difficulties in the human world. For her, the real worldbecomes a happy place where she
can frolic and play. She dresses beautifully, enjoys the wine that she has brought with
her from heaven, and comes and goes as she likes. Such an ideal travel/play in the
human world forms a sharp contrast with human reality. It is important to notice that
Hemp Maiden does not try to change the dangerous human world, but because she herself
has cultivated special skills and talents, the world seems to have become beautiful in her
eyes. This image, I would suggest, represents the collective consciousness of Ming-Qing
women who were fully aware of the restraints and predicaments that women faced in the
world, and that an individual was often too weak to change the prevailing social norms.
Under such circumstances, self-cultivation becomes an especially important way if not to
change the world, then at least to change one's ability to deal with the world and to
provide a new outlook.

kexue chubanshe, 1996), 247-54. Also see the detailed English translations and annotations in Robert Ford
Campany, To Live as Long as Heaven and Earth: A Translation and Study ofGe Hong's Traditions of
Divine Transcendents (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002), 259-70.
431

Gao,

Yiqinyihe,2.\\z.

200

As Dorothy Ko perceptively points out, beginning in the seventeenth-century,

sisterhood or female companionship became an outstanding feature of Chinese women's
culture.432 It is probably for this reason that Gao Fengge extends considerable poetic
effort to create various female gatherings and female communities in her youxian poems.
Her female transcendents often travel in groups and their journeys are accompanied by
festive views:
The dancing and singing phoenixes are everywhere on the jade stairs,
Sisters of the Turquoise Pond are just returning.
Eight dragons lead ahead to pierce the clouds,
Three thousand pearl-decorated gates open themselves from all directions.

Together the female companions step out of the cool breeze,

After sharing the adventure for the immortal mulberry tree with red leaves
they return from the seashore.
[With the leaves] they obtain the good silkworms as crystal as jade,
Making the cocoons into five-colored silk they dedicate it to the Queen
Mother.

mnvmmws., ft$3te*K7c*e.434
The journeys with the female companions are either set up in advance or are spontaneous:
Last night she was drunk and came back late,
On the cloud path, she ran into E Liihua [a female immortal].

^WIM>

nmmmmmm*435

She set up an appointment with Consort Wen to appreciate the flowers,

432

Ko, Teachers.
Gao, Yi gin yi he, 2.1 lb.

'ibid., 2.17a.

201

When will the white dragon arrive for them to ride?

mmxfcmitt;, mm^nm^.436
All these journeys contain interesting and relaxing activities during which women share
their joy. Sometimes the traveling transcendent takes the journey to fulfill a task ordered
by Queen Mother of the West:
The Queen Mother of the West ordered Guo Mixiang [her maid],
To take the Jade Emperor's edict to the mulberry land.
Taking this rare chance, she tried out the immortal magic,
To absorb the blue sea into a sack.

nmwtmmffi, n^^*it-*o438
Even for such a journey under the imperial order, playfulness remains the key.
And even the Queen Mother is portrayed more as a kind of protector rather than a
powerful ruler.

For Guo Mixiang, the Queen Mother's maid, an imperial task also

becomes a playful journey where she can try out her magic. Suzanne E. Cahill has written
how in Chinese culture, the image of the Queen Mother has experienced multiple
transformations, but starting from the Tang, she became a protector of women of various
social backgrounds.

439

Therefore, the Ming-Qing women's fascination with female

transcendents is definitely associated with the expectation to be protected by the powerful

and benevolent queen.

436

Ibid., 2.13b.

437

It is said that the sun rises from Fusang where the legendary mulberry tree is. Therefore Fusang, the
mulberry land, can refer to the sacred place for sunrise. It can also refer to a certain ancient country in the
East, and Fusang is another name for Japan.
438

Gao, Yi qin yi he, 2.13b.

439

See Cahill, Transcendence and Divine Passion.

202

With the rise of groups of women poets in late imperial China, the idea of female
community became a wide-spread phenomenon, and women poets often gathered
together to compose poems, drink wine, view flowers, etc. All of these various earthly
activities are reflected in Gao Fengge's immortalized version of the female community.
The reason for her emphasis on playfulness is intimately related to her love for poetry. As
her brother Gao Fengtai points out, she loved poetry throughout her life and the "Nil
youxian" poems, which were composed towards the end of her life, can be considered the
culmination of her poetic creativity. Gao Fengge's engagement with poetry creation was
difficult because her mother did not permit it, and her family encountered various
problems. However, the same difficulties motivated her to look for an imaginary
alternative. The world of the immortals provided a perfect setting in which to
imaginatively shake off the seriousness of life and indulge in creative play. In poem
number twenty-six, Gao Fengge writes:
In person, she opens the Daoist book case and discovers the blue
jasper,
On Jade and gold scriptures, she marks with hands.
Don't envy Wenji's talent at brush and ink,
Book Keeper lives closer to the carefree life.

Wenji refers to Cai Wenji H3t#Gl (b.ca. 178) whose travels were harsh because
she was kidnapped by the Xiongnu and experienced a variety of hardships in life,
including having to give up her sons.441 Apparently, her life was helpless and too serious
to be playful. Here Gao Fengge compares the lives of an educated literary woman on
440

Gao, Yi qin yi he, 2.15a.

441

Cai Wenji refers to Cai Yan Hlj. See chap. 2.

203

earth and a transcendent who is in charge of Daoist scriptures. Her own preference is for
the transcendent, whose life seems to be far more unfettered and free. Holding the official
position of bookkeeper in the world of the immortals not only symbolizes this person's
deep understanding of the scriptures, but also her mastery of heavenly law. As such, she
represents a combination of female intelligence and power. This perhaps explains why
Gao Fengge concentrated on the subgenre ofniiyouxianit

may well have helped her to

deal with a very real problem: how to deal with her lack of control over her own life as an
intelligent talented woman. Gao's personal predicament was different in degree but not
in kind from that of Wenji, and her poem reflects the collective problem of talented
women poets who, though fond of poetry, did not have the opportunity to enjoy the full
range of pleasures associated with the poetic life because their real lives were difficult
and full of struggle. The excitement of the poetic bookkeeper was undoubtedly connected
to Gao Fengge herself, as she was an avid reader who would take great pleasure in
finding the best lines in a pile of books to exchange with her brother Gao Fengtai. Poetry
became her most valuable treasure in life. Even though she could not write that many
poems, she still could reach fulfillment by reading extensively.
Gao Fengge was not alone in her situation. Many women looked for a sense of
life and immortality in poetry and books as an escape from the sufferings in life. The
famous woman poet Wang Duanshu JLM'M (1621-before 1685) once found herself in
such difficult financial straits that she could not afford to buy food for her family. Yet,
she could still exclaim: "It's true enough that poems and books cannot stave off hunger, /
But if I threw away my poems and books, I wouldn't have a life" Wi=i'MiiJlW;^M, Mifi

204

frfitiMffi

JL. 44

Similarly, as a widow, Gu Taiqing wrote, "With my books for food,

perhaps I can relieve this pure poverty" HHrSK Rj J^yUft. 443 Because of their many and
often tedious household duties, many married women did not have the leisure to read and
compose poems. In her poem "Wushi ganhuai";E~hiltl> (Feelings at my fiftieth
birthday), the eighteenth-century woman poet Bao Zhilan tfi^M described her
reluctance to give up poetry:
When I was young I began to learn writing, but had to drop it at my
middle age. Wandering in desperate straits, I was poor for twenty years,
and had to put my brush and ink on the tall shelf.

^ D L **Km, mmm^, -ftmrnn, mmzmMzmm*444

Luo Qilan also frankly discussed this difficulty for literary women, pointing out that they
had more worries than a male literatus in the case of writing:
Once she has married, she must toil at drawing water, pounding rice, and
serving her parents-in-law, and given all her many household
responsibilities, usually she will not have the leisure to pursue her studies.

&%mim#amn%i*mmmxG.Gimm%i2.o445
In other words, the images of women, whether transcendent or mortal, in the nil youxian
poems provided a space for women to elaborate their ideals and achieve a measure of

442

Idema and Grant, Red Brush, 447. Wang Duanshu, Yinhongji Vfy&M (1651-1655), 4a/b.

443

Idema and Grant, Red Brush, 632. Gu Taiqing, "Gengzi shengri ku xian fuzi" I r p 4 . 0 3.5fc^cT, in
Zhang, Heji, 112.
444

Bao, Qiyunge shichao fe SHHg^t^, in Jingjiang Baoshi san ntishi shichao heke Jj(iLi$1ff:ELic$.Wfi!
&M (1882), comp. Dai Xieyuan MMyt, 3.11a.

445

Luo Qilan, "Guizhong tongren ji xu"H 4 1 WIAMMP?, in Tingqiuxuan shiji. For the English
translations, see Idema and Grant, Red Brush, 612; Chang and Saussy, Women Writers, 703-06.

205

control over their imaginary destinies, even when they could not completely overcome
the obstacles created by real-life situations.

206

Chapter Five Gu Taiqing's Poetry on Excursions

Excursions to a nearby scenic site are the most common type of travel among elite
women in late imperial China. While poems on long journeys are relatively rare, those
on excursions are ubiquitous. Women who had leisure and talent to write about
excursions benefitted from supportive communities inside or outside the family. To study
women's poems on excursions enables a combined understanding of both their
subjectivity and their social networks through which we can probe the larger issue of
their cultural networks. It is not surprising that Gu Taiqing (1799-1877), one of China's
most famous women poets wrote numerous poems on excursions. Her case is
representative of many other elitewomen who were expected to spend most of their time
within the confines of the inner quarters.
Gu Chun H # (hao, Taiqing %M, and zi, Zichun : ? # or Meixian MW) who
was better known as Gu Taiqing, was born in a Manchu aristocratic family. She was the
granddaughter of the Qing Manchu literatus E'chang |3 H (Ocang) whose family name
was Xilinjueluo

ffiMfl

(Sirin Gioro). 446 The name Gu Chun was obtained when she

became Beile JUff] (prince) Yihui's ^#(1799-1838) concubine, and took on the style
name Taiqing (Great Clarity) to match her husband's Daoist style name Taisu JKM
(Great Simplicity). It is said that in order to marry Yihui legally, the latter had to arrange

446

E-Chang was sentenced to death due to his literary exchanges with Hu Zhongzao iM^M. who was put
into prison because of his poems that were accused for criticizing the Qing dynasty. See Jin Qicong ife@
&, Gu Taiqing yu Haidian MX^n^MW.
(Beijing: Beijing chubanshe, 2000), 1-7. For more details of the
legal case of Hu Zhongzao, see Lu Lizhong H J A - S , "Qingdai Qianlong shiqi Guangxi de wenziyu" ffirf^
$^B#Jfi$ffitfj "JC^U" Guangxi shehui kexue / S f f i # # ? 4 * 5 (2008): 27-28. For Manchu names,
see Giovanni Stary, A Dictionary of Manchu Names (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2000).

207

Taiqing to take the name of a commoner Manchu family named Gu.447 Two of her
poetry collections have survived. Her shi poems are collected in Tianyou ge shiji JKMM
W$MI (Poetry

collection from the Tower of Heavenly Roaming, seven juan plus a

supplementaryjuan), and ci poems in Donghaiyuge MM'MMi (Fisherman's songs from

the Eastern Sea, six juan plus a supplementary juan).

448

Due to her accomplishments in

song-lyrics, her work has been compared with that of the famous Manchu male poet
Nalan Xingde ffliM&M (Nara Singde, 1655-1685): "Cheng Rongruo, among men, and
Taiqing Chun, among women." 449 Although Gu is mainly known as a poet of song lyrics,
her numerous shi poems, which are more informative about events than her song lyrics,
deserve equal scholarly attention. In this chapter, I will focus on her Poetry Collection
from the Tower of Heavenly Roaming.
Gu Taiqing's interest and talent in poetry writing were greatly supported by her
husband Yihui, who himself was also an accomplished poet, 4 'and her close circle of
female relatives and friends.452 One pleasure shared between Gu Taiqing and Yihui or her
female friends was traveling together on excursions during which they not only enjoyed
Jin, Gu Taiqingyu Haidian, 29-30.
448

These two collections are in Zhang, Heji.

449

"Nanzhong Cheng Ruorong, niizhong Taiqing c h u n ' ' ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ , ii^izfn^Nalan Xingde was a
famous Manchu poet whose style name (zi) was Rongruo W^r, and his original name was Nalan Chengde
&ftiJ&!l. Zhang, Heji, 766.

450
There are several versions of this collection. Here I follow Zhang Zhang's version which includes seven
juan plus a supplementary section. See Zhang, Heji. Also, for Gu's biography in English, see Widmer,
Beauty and the Book, 187-90.
451

Yihui's poetry collections include Guanguzhai miaolianji W^^MWM.^. (3 juan), Xiechun jingshe ci
S # f f # f " ] (I juan plus a supplementary yuan), Mingshan tangwenji BM^'sL^CM, including 15 juan
(plus a supplementary yuan) oiLiushui bian *M$-Wk {shi poems) and 3 juan of Nangu qiaochang M ^ f f i P l
(song lyrics) or Xishan qiaochang Hlilffi 11 ! . See Zhang, Heji.

452

See Zhang, Heji, 755-57, 762-63, 771-72.

208

themselves, but also found literary inspiration. As one of the most learned princes, Yihui
had travelled since childhood, which tremendously inspired his poetry writing. His
collection of one hundred poems written between the ages of twelve and nineteen is
entitled Weiguanji ^%M.

(A collection [composed] before being capped). In this

collection, a certain Master Han Yunxi If HiJt (fl. first half of the 19th-c.) testifies to the
indispensible influence of travel on Yihui's literary achievement:
.. .His [Yihui's] natural talent stood out of the crowd. After he received the royal
title of Beile, he would always accompany His Majesty whenever the emperor
went on a hunting trip. For this reason, he was able to see the landscapes, current
events and people near and far. All these stimulated his extraordinary talent. This
is because when personal experience increases, skills in poetry will also increase.
Believe it or not, in the past people commented on Danian's [Zhao Danian, fl.
1 l^-c] paintings: "Because of Danian's aristocratic background in the Song, he
could not travel far. Every time he returned from accompanying the emperor for
ancestor worship at the imperial tombs, he would paint the hills and ravines he
remembered by heart." Unless you have travelled ten thousand li, one cannot
become a master in painting, and it is the same with poetry. ...

mn&ZMfe,

W*IA#O

&mm^m, jiTW:t*, wm

m, mmm,
mMM*&& -TCua^, ^ M ? I , I #
453
m,
In certain periods of the Song and the Qing, it was a common practice for aristocrats not
to travel far for official positions, and they mainly stayed in the capital.454 During the
Qing dynasty, except for official business, bannermen from the three outer camps who

453

The self-preface in Guanguzhai miaolianji, in Zhang, Heji, 307. Zhao Lingrang ffi^HI, zi Danian, was
a painter in the Northern Song. He was good at landscape painting, but because of his aristocratic
background, he could not travel far, so what he painted were mostly based on the surrounding areas of the
capital Bianjing.
454

Miao Shumei I t llr-ft, "Songdai zongshi, waiqi yu huanguan renyong zhidu shulun"^f^3?S> ^bSlcJ^
%.t&J%UW&Wi,
Shixueyuekan j b P ^ f O 5 (1995): 32-38, esp. 32. MMM and ? j ? * , Qingren
shehui shenghuo fm AliW^fevS' (Shenyang: Shenyang chubanshe, 2002), 5.

209

lived in the suburbs usually did not go into the inner city.

These aristocratic customs

might have contributed to the fact that most of Gu Taiqing's activities took place in the
Haidian area (the northwestern suburb of Beijing) where her own home (part of the outer
camps) before marriage and Yihui's residence were located. In fact, Gu's only relatively
long journey in 1829 was to follow Yihui to the Eastern Mausoleum of the royal family
located to the east of Beijing where Yihui had been appointed to a position guarding the
mausoleum.
Many of Gu's excursions involved horse-riding with Yihui around the Western
Hills area in the Beijing suburbs.456 Different from the usual Han elite women's image
with bound-feet at Gu's time, as a Manchu woman who was less limited physically, she
could "ride astride like men:"457
Taiqing often rode a horse with Yihui to visit the Western Hills in the snow. She
dressed in the female clothes of a good family, wearing a red cape, and playing
the pipa on the horse, and her hands were as white as jade. Whoever saw her
claimed that she was the reincarnation of Wang Qiang [Zhaojun]."

^ 6 M , M#Jtsl^iMS*m. 458
455

The Manchu people from the Wai Sanying %[=-*& (the Guard of Yuanmingyuan 13 ? | | 3 J ^ H , the
Light Division of Fragrant Hill # ill # fjilt and the Artillery and Musketry Division outside Landianchang
WiS.rfyb-'Ji^SrlS located in the Haidian District) seldom travelled to the inner city of Beijing unless for
official business. See Jin, Gu Taiqingyu Haidian, 83. This partially explains why Gu Taiqing who was
born in the area of Fragrant Hill and then married to Yihui whose residence was located in the Haidian
District mainly took excursions inside the northwestern part of Beijing. Also see Mark C. Elliott, The
Manchu Way: The Eight Banners and Ethnic Identity in Late Imperial China (Stanford: Stanford
University Press, 2001), 81.
456

"[Gu's] poems before forty are mostly poems on excursions with the companion [Yihui]" If 4 0 +
ftf > &iM2L{/. Zhang, Heji, 762. Yihui was born the same year as Gu Taiqing in 1799, and he died at
the age of thirty-nine.
457

Quoted in Elliott, Manchu Way, 246.

458

Xu Ke ^151, Jin ci conghua iEfHilfS, in Zhang, Heji, 764. Neijia f*3 W- refers to women who are from
a virtuous family with proper behavior. In the Ming-Qing period, it was still widely held that traveling for
pleasure near the mountains and rivers was men's privilege. See chap. 3, in Tao Zhenhuai's B^HH (fl.
1651) tanci narrative Tianyu hua ^ W f f i : "Traveling and taking pleasure in mountains and rivers are men's

210

Starting from the Ming, the Western Hills became a famous scenic spot of Beijing as well
as a symbol for elite gathering and culture in the imperial capital as reflected in numerous
poems, prose writings and paintings.459 Traveling to the Western Hills thus became a way
of shaping literati's personal identities through joining the fashion of the excursions. One
of the famous Eight Vistas of Beijing was "Clearing Snow in the Western Hills" which
refers to the snowy scenery on the Western Hills.460 Thus the description of Gu and her
husband's trips in the snow represents their immersion into contemporary fashion as well
as their elite status. Gu Taiqing herself indeed has quite a few poems on the snowy
Western Hills, such as "After the Snow on the Tomb-sweeping Festival in the Year of
Bingxu, I Accompanied the Commandery Grand Mistress and the Dame-consort to Visit
the Temples on the West Hills" and "On the Fifteenth Day of the Twelfth Month, after
the Snow, Together with Shanzhi, Su'an, Yunlin, Yunjiang, Renlan and Peiji, I
Appreciated the Snow on the Western Hills. Meanwhile, I Composed the Poem by Using
the Same Rhymes as in Yunlin's Poem Extemporaneously."461

business, / How can a virtuous woman step out?"Sl ill 3?t7.Klj " ? . F*3 Ms. nT^bifttr ? in Tao, Tianyu
hua (Zhengzhou: Zhongzhou guji chubanshe, 1984), 96.
Susan Naquin, Peking: Temples and City Life, 1400-1900 (Berkeley: University of California Press,
2000), 11-12, 102-03.
460

Ibid., 111-12,258-68.

461

"Bingxu Qing Ming xuehou shi taifuren, furen you Xishan zhusi"
fflj%MRMW@t$f%.3iA%.AMiBilh
IS^f and "Shiwu xuehou tong Shanzhi, Su'an, Yunlin, Yunjiang,Renlan, Peiji Tianningsi kan xishan jixue
jixi ci Yunlin y u n " + W ^ ^ ) S I K $ W # i ] M ^ ^ ^ # B t J j f * S a P / S : S # t M , in Gu,
Tianyouge shiji, 1.6; 3.82/83. Also in Gu's collection of song lyrics Donghai yuge, there are two song
lyrics on this topic: "To the Melody of'Beautiful Scenery:' Watching the Snow on the Western Hills While
Appreciating Flowers at Heavenly Peace Temple" J!,7fc#?: ;7^^Tf I f f t l l l S l J j f i i l f and "To the Melody
of'Flying Snow Covering the Hills:' On the Fifteenth Day of the Twelfth Month, after the Snow, Together
with All the Female Friends, When I Appreciated Hothouse Flowers at Heavenly Peace Temple, and
Watched the Snow on the Western Hills, I Composed This Poem by Using the Rhymes I Had Picked" MW

mm\h: + M , (5ifm^*##jf &, mm\um,s, #ti, 2.209,2.225.

211

Gu Taiqing's image on horseback was associated with the Han woman traveler
Wang Qiang 3E$i.462 A popular image of Wang Zhaojun in the paintings was her holding
the pipa, wearing a red cape, riding on her horse in the snow. Riding the horse indicates
a long journey, and the snow represents the severe weather across the border and
difficulties ahead for Zhaojun. In fact, nobody is sure what means of transportation
Zhaojun used while traveling to the Xiongnu area. But the horse, a symbol of strength
and speed, bears a strong sense of alien culture that well suits the artistic imagination.
The Tang painter Han Gan f t # (fl. 742-755), who specialized in painting horses, had a
famous painting on Zhaojun "Mingfei shangma tu" ^^S_hMHi (Consort Ming mounting
a horse). 463 The use of the horse for Zhaojun's transportation was probably influenced by
the Tang passion for horses, especially because of Emperor Xuanzong in whose court
Han Gan became well-known for painting horses.464 The Song female painter Gong
Suran fUMIfc (fl. 1127-1162) also painted a long scroll called "Mingfei chusai tu" Bj#g
HiHllSI (Consort Ming crossing the border). In this painting, there are thirteen horses
with Wang Zhaojun wearing Xiongnu clothes with heavy fur and her maid holding her

462

Wang Qiang, style name Zhaojun HSU, was a palace woman waiting to be chosen by Emperor Yuan jt
^ (r. 48B.C.-33B.C.) of the Han dynasty. She was eventually married to the minority leader of Xiongnu
SflSX in the north as a political strategy for making peace, and she was good at playing the central western
musical instrument pipa. Wang Zhaojun story underwent numerous transformations throughout the time.
See Eugene Ouyang, "The Wang Chao-chun Legend: Configurations of the Classic," Chinese Literature:
Essays, Articles, Reviews (CLEAR) 4, no.l (1982): 3-22; Kwong Hing Foon, Wang Zhaojun: Une heroine
chinoise de I'histoire a la legend (Paris: College de France, Institut des Hautes Etudes Chinoises, 1986).
463

Yuding Peiwenzhai shuhuapuMtli^^C'Mllilm.Wi,

100.13a, in Wenyuange siku quanshu, zibu. In order
to avoid the name of Sima Zhao i?] UBS (211-265), later recognized as Emperor Wen of the Jin f| dynasty
(265-316), people of the later dynasties call Wang Zhaojun Mingjun or Mingfei instead of Zhaojun.
464

"Emperor Xuanzong was fond of big horses, and had as many as four hundred thousand horses raised in
the imperial sbMe,~^U~XM,
^ J K S H + H , in YudingPeiwenzhai shuhuapu, 47. 6b. Also see Han
Gan's biography on 47.6a-8b.

212

pipa.

The artistic association of Gu and Wang through the horse, the snow, a beautiful

appearance and a. pipa, strengthens the theme of border-crossing that Gu executed, only
in a reverse direction compared to Wang: as a Manchu, Gu crossed the northern border of
China, entering the Han area, while Wang traveled towards the northern territory of the
Xiongnu; Gu married Yihui out of mutual love in contrast to Wang's politically arranged
marriage controlled by the emperor; Gu made numerous excursions for pleasure or
necessity whereas Wang's journey embodies sorrow at personal and national levels.
Up until the age of thirty-nine, Gu Taiqing's poems were mostly about her
excursions with Yihui.466 Besides traveling with her husband, Gu Taiqing's poetic
inspirations came from her trips with her female companions who were either relatives,
such as her younger sister Xiaxian fl^lll, or friends, such as the famous women poets Wu
Zao ^M

(1799-1862), Shen Shanbao f c # # (1808-1862), Liang Desheng ^ f M

(1771-1847) and Liang's two daughters Xu Yunlin | ^ S # (fl.1820) and Xu Yunjiang t%

8S| (fl. 1820). My discussions will be based on Gu Taiqing's poems on her excursions
with Yihui and her female companions in order to explore how the poet represented
travel in her poems, and in what ways these representations challenged the traditional
notion of the elite woman, who if she traveled at all, did so in her imagination.

Narrating Her Traveling Experience through Lyrical Poems

In his study of Chinese autobiography, Pei-yi Wu points out the prevalent tension
between writing history (public and objective) and belle-lettres (private and subjective) in
465

Wang Yongxiang 3L^.W, "Songdai Guizhou niihuajia Gong Suran jiqi 'Mingfei chusaitu'"^flCM^Hic
MSL&MB.Rg: T O t t i J l B , Wenshitiandi%.3zi&4(l996): 10-11.

466

See note 10 of this chapter.

213

Chinese tradition. Because of the dominant status of historiography, objectivity and

impersonality in a historian's stance became necessary for claiming an authoritative voice.
As travel literature is often used for autobiographical purposes, the author often narrates
in an objective and impersonal manner to record a journey rather than use it as a means
for self-expression. While most travelers were bound by the Chinese writing tradition to
lean towards historiography, "those who contented themselves with short trips to scenic
spots could stay completely within the realm of wen (belles lettres) and write short pieces
on the beauty of mountains and rivers; they were not subject to the exigencies of
historiography."467 Gu Taiqing's writings on excursions benefit from the form of lyrical
poems that emphasize emotional expressions, yet at the same time, her poems also
contain elements of historiography to enhance her credibility as an author. The
combination accords her poems both lyrical expression and narrative notes, projecting
both the subjective and the objective.
Most of Gu's poems contain dates and other factual information to mark a
particular event. These data successfully transmit the author's strong desire to record her
personal life story and to be understood by others. These lyrical poems then serve not
only an aesthetic purpose, but also as an autobiography of a woman in motion.
Long titles are the first exceptional language marker of her poems. For example,
at the age of twenty-eight (1826), Gu Taiqing accompanied her mother-in-law and
Yihui's primary wife Miaohua &!>ljl (1798-1830) to visit the temples in the West Hills,
and recorded this journey in a poem entitled "After the Snow on the Tomb-sweeping
Festival in the Year of Bingxu, I Accompanied the Commandery Grand Mistress and the
467

Pei-yi Wu, The Confucian's Progress, 7. Also see 3-14, esp. 6, 8, 9.

214

Dame-consort to Visit the Temples in the Western Hills."468 The title marks the date, the
place and companions, which effectively supplements the factual information lacking in
the poetic lines. Such a sequence is even more outstanding in sets of poems with the same
title. For instance, under the general title "Chunyou shishou"#JJH~""ti" (Ten poems on a
spring outing), there are longer subtitles, which serve almost as editorial notes, and which
mark the dates in sequence.
To further personalize her poems, Gu Taiqing uses notes between the lines. In
"Nian liu deng D o n g p o " i t / s ^ ^ : K (Climbing the Eastern Slope on the twentieth-sixth),
one poem of the ten-poem series mentioned above, she wrote:
T h e p l a c e I p a s s e d y e s t e r d a y , Yesterday, my carriage passed Er'ying, and
because the path was difficult and the village was ugly, I composed no
poem.

Appears far in the distance when I climb to look today.

Thousands of blossoming pear trees seem to be covered with snow.
The spring plants are fragrant all over the mountain.
The painted pillar and the new boudoir,
The deserted terrace, old Buddhist halls. The Tiantai Temple was destroyed and this
Tower of Breeze built.
Happily in the deep valley,
All birds play their pipes.

#^Ll4#o

mmmmm,
& ^^.Mrm

469

468

Gu, Tianyouge shiji, 1.6. Dame-consort was an honorary title given to the wives of Beile, and
Commandery Grand Mistress was an honorable title to Yihui's mother. See Charles O. Hucker, A
Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China (Stanford: Stanford Univesity Press, 1985).
469

Gu, Tianyouge shiji, 3.70.

215

The first note mainly serves to record her personal thought, but the second note targets
readers. The Tower of Breeze was established by Yihui after he bought the South Valley
^ # estate in the suburbs of Beijing. Apparently, family members knew that it was built
on the old site of Tiantai Temple, so the note here aims to clarify this family information
for contemporary readers outside the family or later generations. The notes show her
strong intention to remember not only the place, but also her literary interaction with it.
We see that because the path was too windy and the village was not very scenic, at first,
she did not feel inspired to compose a poem. On the next day, however, she made up for
this by composing a poem on her trip to the eastern slope on the twentieth-sixth day of
the month. Thus, her note also serves as a record of her literary productivity: her
journeys and her poem shine more brilliantly in each other's company.
Besides its informative function, notes also enrich the poetic images in Gu
Taiqing's poems. Another poem in this set reads as follows:
Having stepped on the highest peak,
By the steep cliff, there is a little path.
Around the dark rocks, rare birds are flying,
A t t h e p r e c i p i c e , a CUte Child i s C l i m b i n g . The boy Duan Ba can pick the flowers along the
precipice.

The valley is wide in the east and the south,

The beauty of the flowers enriches the west and the north.
I climb the mountain and overlook the world underneath,
My vision is blocked and all is empty.

ihrnmrnm, wmn&.

M P T ^ , BBfH^S. 470
The poem features a lively child Duan Ba who fearlessly climbs up the dangerous
cliffside to gather flower. What is interesting is that Duan Ba becomes the turning point

216

that divides the very different pictures of the first and second four lines of the poem. The
first four lines are full of descriptions of dangers: gao (high), chan (high and dangerous),
yin (dark) andy'we (steep). But the brave and skillful boy shifts the picture to a much
wider and brighter one: the valley is wide and the flowers are beautiful. The note adds
the lively action of the boy and makes a smooth transition from the child who picks the
flowers to the flowers around the mountain in the sixth line, as if it is the brave action
that challenges and finally reverses the unfavorable situation. The lively movement of the
yiniao (different bird) and hantong (innocent child) ends the dark image of the mountain
and turns it into a wonderful place which enriches the climber's vision and travel
experience.
The "Ten Poems of on a Spring Outing" discussed above show another important
feature of travel poetry: they are often composed in sets, which is an important
development in the history ofjiyou literature.471 "Ten Poems on a Spring Outing" are
arranged in order according to the dates, yet the poems in a set do not always have to be
arranged according to time sequence as long as they are all on a certain topic. For
example, in the poems under the title "Jiuri deng houshan sishou"iL 0 H J P ill IB] If"
(Climbing the back mountain on the ninth day, four poems), there is not a time sequence,
yet all poems are on the theme of climbing the heights. The poems were written during
Taiqing and Yihui's trip to the Eastern Mausoleum.
In the first poem in this set, she alludes to the tradition of climbing on the Double
Ninth Festival, into which she inserts the image of a woman:
On the ninth day of climbing the heights, my expression was sad,
But being able to follow the journey, I felt lucky to have the leisure.
471

Li, Zhongguo gudaijiyou, 113.

217

The wise man's witticism shocked the gods and ghosts,

The souls of Emperor Yao's daughters [E'huang and Nuying] 472returned
with cold jade ornaments left. Princess Duanmin Gulun's 473tomb
was located to the southeast of the mountains.

Our life times are merely illusions of the truth,

Through millennium, mountains and rivers remain the same.
I cannot bear the death of my relatives and friends,
With a yellow flower in my hair, I return from the journey alone.

A0^-tfrS, $ M l l o

MA1&W;WW!M 1$:f$kW&MU>o 0B*iij)Kit.

^ * & r o , mMMrtm&m,474
The symbolic associations of Double Ninth Festival 475have been directly promoted by
the poetic tradition. A. R. Davis argues that Tao Yuanming's "Jiuri xianju"% 0 WJ^t
(Living in retirement on the ninth day) was the earliest representative poem for the
festival.476 Tao's poem established four major components for the festival:
chrysanthemum, wine, poetry and the passage of time. Later, the image of the lonely
traveler was added into the symbol system of the festival.477 The most famous example
was Tang poet Wang Wei's well-known poem "Jiu yue jiu ri yi Shandong xiongdi" flB
A. 0 'IS ill 3llJn!<^ (On the ninth day of the ninth month, remembering my brothers east of
the mountains):

472

E Huang and Nuying are legendary goddesses. See Liu Xiang IJ[R] (ca. 79-6BC), "You Yu er fei"^"!
#2, in "Muyi zhuan" MilkW of Lienii zhuan ?iJ^C# (Taibei: Zhonghua shuju, 1965), la.

473

Duanmin Gulun (Duwanmin Gulun) was Emperor Daoguang's daughter (1813-1819).

474

Gu, Tianyouge shiji, 1.10.

475

See chap. 1.

476

A. R. Davis, "The Double Ninth Festival in Chinese Poetry: A Study of Variations upon a Theme," in
Wen-lin: Studies in the Chinese Humanities, ed. Chow Tse-tsung (Madison and London: University of
Wisconsin Press, 1968), 46-47.
477

Ibid., 59.

218

Alone in a foreign province as a foreign guest,

Each time I come to a holiday, doubled my thoughts of home.
From afar I know my brothers have climbed on high:
Putting dogwoods everywhere but missing one person.

&toR%&MM, MM3m'J>-A. 478

In Gu Taiqing's poem, the leisure and loneliness on a journey are mixed together (tt",
U , ^F JH, U S ) , reflecting her mood swings and her struggle to comfort herself with
the fortune of being able to travel. For Tao, the yellow flower (chrysanthemum) was the
symbol of being a solitary yet relaxing hermit with great taste, whereas for Gu, the
yellow flower in the woman's hair creates a leisurely yet lonely woman traveler's image.
Princess Duanmin Gulun (1816-1819) was the first daughter of Emperor Daoguang MJfc
(r. 1821-1850). Her premature death intensifies the conventional motif of lamenting the
transcience of life. The princess could be seen as a remote relative of Gu Taiqing who
was married to Prince Yihui, and her tomb emphasizes family's absence at the top of the
mountain. The prevalence of the female images in this poem (the woman traveler, the
princess and the legendary goddesses) make it a unique appreciation of the poetic
tradition of climbing the heights on the Double Ninth Festival.
Another poem of this set demonstrates Gu Taiqing's familiarity with the classics
and a unique poetic construction:
With twined autumn orchids as my ornament, and cinnamon wood as the
pillar.
How many times have oceans and land traded places?
Fragrant plant and thin frost make me grieve for Song Yu,
From the horse hooves and autumn floods, I think about Zhuangzi.
Tao Yuanming and Xie Lingyun who had excellent poetic talent were
finally burdened by that,
Laozi and Zhuangzi who fully understood Dao were also affected by their
Yu, Poetry of Wang Wei, 56.

219

reputation.
Today, I climb the heights and give a long sigh,
In the wind, who sees the emotions in "Traveling Far?"

The poem starts with Qu Yuan's dictions of fragrant plants and ends with remembering
his work of "Yuanyou" i&M (Far roaming). 480 The description of the fragrant plants
(orchids and cinnamon) comes from the tradition established by Qu Yuan's long poem
"Encountering Sorrow" which creates the tradition of the xiangcao meiren H r ^ H A
(fragrant plant and beautiful woman). "Fragrant plant" refers to high moral quality, and
"beautiful woman" refers to the King of Chu or the lyrical speaker who is often
interpreted as Qu Yuan himself. When the virtues are not recognized, the beautiful
woman becomes an abandoned woman. Consequently, male literati of later generations
481

inherited the tradition of using female personae to vent their own political frustration.
The end of Gu Taiqing's poem continues frustration and loneliness by making another
connection to the Chuci tradition. In the "Far Roaming," feeling frustrated about the
reality, the protagonist hopes to become a transcendent, more positive than the
protagonist of the "Encountering Sorrow" who commits suicide in frustration. The final
Gu, Tianyouge shiji, 1.17. For translating the terms, such as renlan and gui, I referred to David Hawkes,
Ch'uTz'u, 22-23.
480

Scholars debate over the authorship of this work. See Paul W. Kroll, "On 'Far Roaming'," Journal of
the American Oriental Society 116, no. 4 (1996): 653-69.
481

Yang Yu argues that such a tradition of using female voice adds lyrical elements to Chinese poetry
which is an advantage for a unique male tradition. See Yang Yu H M , "Zhongguo nanxing wenren qizhi
rouhua de shehui xinli yuanyuanjiqi wenxue biaoxian" ^ H j ^ l 4 3 t A ' s % M I R / f c W ? i ' s ' l > 3 M : ^ X K 3 t
^ S I I , Wen shizhe X$.^
2 (2004): 107-12.

220

choice of the protagonist in "Far Roaming" coincidentally matches Gu Taiqing's choice

after her husband's death in 1838: living on instead of suicide.
Although Gu Taiqing and Yihui were a compatible match, her status as a
concubine (ceshi MM) and her family's controversial status created friction between her
and Yihui's family. "After the prince [Yihui] passed away, Taiqing faced many
difficulties with his family. She was driven out of the house by Old Fujin (Yihui's
mother), having to rent another residence at Camp for Raising Horses in the western part

ofthecity"fiij}!#, xmmnmAffife, &xm^fa&, nmnmw&mg.

Gu Taiqing's own poem also sheds light on her life as an unsupported widow:
On the Seventh Day of the Seventh Month, My Husband Departed This
World and on the Twenty-eighth Day of the Tenth Month, I was Ordered
to Take My Two Sons, Jian and Chu, and My Two Daughters, Shuwen
and Shuyi, Leave the House and Move Out of the Neighborhood. Since We
HaNowhere to Go, I Sold Off My Gold Phoenix Hairpins, and by So Doing
WasAble to Get a Place to Live. I Wrote This Poem as a Record of This
The immortal has already become a crane among the clouds
Is there a year he will come back once again to his old home?
Who will on my behalf clear my name of that false accusation?
Uproot the vines and repair the rooms is what I must do alone.
I have already seen the phoenix wings soar away in the wind,
But there are still the flowers whose gleam shines in the eyes.
Sitting motionless I cannot bear to think of how it was before:
Anxious sorrow rends my guts, my heart is filled with grief

482

Widows often had the intention of following their husbands to death largely due either to their
harmonious relationship or the fear of the difficult life alone. Some widows chose to live on for the
responsibility to the family, especially that of raising the children. Starting from the eighteenth century, the
Qing ruler increasingly encouraged Manchu widows' chastity in order to reinforce the Confucian norms
and Manchu identity. See Mark C. Elliott, "Manchu Widows and Ethnicity in Qing China," Comparative
Studies in Society and History 41, no.l (1999): 33-71.
483

Guo Zeyun M%1M, Zhihanxuan tanhui ^M^WM,

221

in Zhang, Heji, 762.

TI:WM,

jimmw^'bMo484

The false accusation refers to the provenance of a misunderstood daughter-in-law:

A woman lost a piece of meat during the night, and her mother-in-law thought the
woman had stolen the meat. Angry, the mother drove her out of the house. In the
morning, the daughter-in-law left, and when she passed the kind women in the
neighborhood, she told them the story. One woman in the neighborhood said,
"Don't worry, you continue on your trip, and today I will make your kinsmen
catch up with you." Then the old woman gathered a thread of scattered hemp and
asked for fire from the house which had lost the meat, saying, "yesterday, my dog
got a piece of meat and ate it, and I am asking for your fire to punish the dog."
Then, the people in the house hurried to chase her and ask their daughter-in-law to
return.

u, ammmtm, mx^z. tifaum&n^m*485

Gu Taiqing was also a misunderstood daughter-in-law. It is ironic that as a member of
the aristocracy, she was discouraged from traveling alone, and only when she lost her
social status, could she finally do so on her own. But this time, it was not a pleasure trip,
but a forced moving. Being able to live as an aristocratic woman inside the inner quarters
not only reflected social and gender norms, but also was a symbol for a decent personal
identity which was only available within the family in Chinese society.486 When a woman
became a widow, a sense of homelessness was forced upon her, as she lost her

484

Gu, Tianyouge shiji, 5.104. The English translation is from Idema and Grant, Red Brush, 633.

485

In "Kuai Wujiang Xifu zhuan di shiwu"lHE)I J , 5 * c # H + 5 , " Ban Gu, Qian Hanshu WMM, 45.7b8a, in Wenyuange siku quanshu, shibu.

486

It should be noted that we do not know how poor Gu Taiqing was even when she was living alone,
because after all, she was raising two children for the prince's family, and maybe still had certain financial
support. But compared to her previous life when Yihui was alive, her life as a widow was hard.

222

dependence on her husband and the identity that was associated with kinship.4 7 To Gu
Taiqing, living on her own and raising four little children magnified this sense of
"homelessness:" she truly became a lonely wanderer in the world. However, as Kang-i
Sun Chang also rightly points out, there were many unfortunate widows with literary
talent who suffered
recognition.

from lacking family connections, yet who gained literary

Therefore, Gu Taiqing's movement from her husband's house to the larger

world can also be considered a means by which she was able to establish a new identity
through writing. In this sense, the theme of climbing the heights becomes more symbolic
for women like Gu. If we compare her life with her husband's family to traveling along a
flat road, living on her own is a harder path of life, just like climbing a mountain.
Climbing the heights requires persistent efforts physically, mentally and spiritually.
However, from the top of the mountain, one can view the beautiful scene and feel a
personal victory.

Temples: Sites for Gu Taiqing's Religious and Cultural Communities

In the second year of the Guangxu %f$i reign (1876), Gu Taiqing wrote her last
song-lyric:
To the Melody of Xijiangyue, In the Second Year of the Guangxu Reign: At Noon
I Dreamed of the Sunset Temple
I have found a little temple called Sunset,
Plum trees have just blossomed on the mountain.
A stream goes around the steps of the temple,
A narrow path obliquely leads to a little bridge.
In this good dream, I linger, afraid to wake up,
487

Chang, "Guafu shiren," 87.

488

Ibid.

223

Yet there is not much time left.

What is the joy in the mountains and rivers?
How can a beautiful dream last forever?
W&R

3t%-**FBW3&*V&*f

mm$m4^, fs^MMHo -nm-fcrnm, f4ft

ft&m&tm, mw&mmz* ^lum^mtm, nwmmft*489
In old age (sunset), travel was only a dream to Gu Taiqing. The poem outlines a pleasant
and comforting ideal throughout her life: making excursions to the mountains and rivers.
Furthermore, this hobby of travel was always accompanied by poetry writing: "Whenever
I see beautiful mountains and rivers, I will leave some poetic lines, ... By nature, I enjoy
mountains and rivers." j # ill?K @ ^ J ,

ftt^Sffi." 4 9 0 In 1877, the year after this

song-lyric on the Sunset Temple was written, she passed away at the age of seventy-nine.
That temples become important destinations for Gu Taiqing's excursions is no
surprise, since she and her husband held religious beliefs, especially Daoism. Their style
names Taisu and Taiqing come from the Daoist tradition and the couple precluded many
poems on religious pursuits.491 Taisu means the origin of the universe. Taiqing means the
highest level where the Daoist god Yuanshi Tianzun jttfe^M

dwells, and because only

those who have become immortal can enter this level, Taiqing also refers to an immortal
land. The name of Gu's residence, Tower of Heavenly Roaming, also comes from
Zhuangzi's philosophical Daoism.492 The couple had a close relationship with Zhang

Gu, Donghai yuge, 6.298.

490

Gu, "Shengri" 0 (Birthday), Tianyouge shiji, 4.85.

491

Zhang, Kuangdai cainti.

492

"If the heart has not its spontaneous and enjoyable movements, the six faculties of perception will be in
mutual collision"'L>*Xi, M'J/N^fflfll. Zhuangzi, "Wai wu" ft% in Zhuangzijijie fik^Mffl, comp.

224

Kunhe I ^ i H , a Daoist master at the Baiyun Guan MM (White Cloud Temple) in

Beijing.493 The couple were very familiar with the White Cloud Temple because they
went there for Master Zhang's lecture on Daoist scriptures, or to watch the ritual of
Daoist ordination under Zhang'supervision. Gu Taiqing wrote the poem "On the
Eleventh Day of the Fourth Month, at the White Cloud Temple, I Listened to Old Daoist
Zhang Kunhe Lecturing on the Rules of the Sublime Capital:"
Deep in the White Cloud [Temple], opened the elixir gate,
Colorful feather flags were glowing in the sun.
In the quiet temple, a black crane landed,
In the music of "Pacing the Void," the fallen flowers were
flying.
The universe provides advantages and disadvantages,
The lines of the Eight Trigrams excel at profundity.
If asking me, the visitor, what I had learned from this journey,
The fragrant dust rising all the way, and peacefully I forgot to return.

^mmx^mn, M - B ^ S H . 4 9 4
The Xuandu Scripture refers to a certain scripture created by early Tianshi 3KM Daoism
(which later developed into Quanzhen Daoism) in the Southern and Northern dynasties.
The scripture advocates a concept similar to the Buddhist concept of karma and advised

Wang Xianqian IEJGW (1842-1918) (Taibei: Taiwan shangwu yinshuguan, 1968), 65. For the English
translation, see Legge, Writings of Kwangsze, 139.
493

See Gu, "Shuilong yin: Ti Zhang Kunhe laoren xiaozhao"7XtiPt: W>W$Wk%\4^M,

lM H , in Donghaiyuge, 1.187.
1

Gu, Tianyouge shiji, 5.101.

225

ffl

&3M

IU

followers to obey the Daoist principles, accumulate merit, and eradicate bad deeds.
Travelling to White Cloud Temple was a journey of familiarizing themselves with the
Daoist rituals. Because of the limitation of women's mobility, it was common practice
for women to stay at home for religious practices during the Ming and Qing. However,
visiting temples in person signified great faith and closeness to the Gods.496 Gu
Taiqing's trip to the temple enabled her to feel closer to the Dao through Zhang Kunhe:
In the morning the people speak quietly,
The banners are flying,
And the incense with the character "long life" is burning.
Zhang Kunhe is wearing colorful Daoist ritual clothes,
With a hair bun standing high on his head.

^xmm, mmm^rn^mm*mnm, mmmm, o 497

The couple not only went there by themselves, but also made the trip to the
temple a family activity. Yihui wrote:
In the Daoist temple or the monks' little rooms, I wander without a
boundary,
The cold dew is left from the leap month and the Mid-Autumn draws close.
In this world, he has transmitted the Rules of the Sublime
Capital seven times,
Up in the heaven, the white jade tower will be renovated.
The passing guest now has more leisure than the past,
The transcendent's beard and hair are different from the ordinary.
At the immortal's lecture stage, the oblique sunlight moves the shadow of
the pine tree,
I hold my beloved son and return home. On the tenth day, on the same carriage, we had
Zaizhao sitting next to us and Zaichun resting on
the lap.

495

Ding Changyun T'W'it, "Shilun daojiao jielii jianshe de fazhan guocheng"ISf^iSife?S#^HSWM

MB, Zhongguo daojiao ^ f f l i l i : 6 (2004): 10.
496

Zhao Shiyu ffitttlfjj, "Kuanghuan yu richangMing Qing yilai de miaohui yu minjian shehui"JElRJSI 0
SBSvf WJ|4MJi#^KPBltt# (Beijing: Sanlian shudian, 2002), 270.

497

Gu, "Lin Jiang Xian Man: Baiyun Guan kan Kunhe laoren shoujie" KsiUlijffi: 6 ! t l M * r ' t i : A : ? ,
in Donghai yuge, 1.203.

226

On the twelfth day of the sixth month in 1835, Yihui lost his official position after toiling
in administration for many years, and suddenly he had more leisure time:

At middle age, I am tired of the morning shift at the court,

Wearing commoners' short clothes, I stroll freely in the mountains.
The natural title can be given to the noble people,
And human feelings are undependable.
The life path needs to be planned early,
Do not wait until your temple hair turns gray.

ftmmmf,

w&mmi,4"

Yet the temples and Daoist world, Yihui's spiritual refuge, did not assure his ultimate
escape from the political frustrations: three years later, he passed away, leaving Gu
Taiqing to live as a widow for almost forty years.500
Gu's interest and dedication to Daoism enriched her poetic world. On the
Dongshan jfl ill (East Mountain) trip with Yihui, she wrote:
The peaks in the southwest are steep,
And those are said to be the immortal land Tiantai.
Densely the mist merges,
And outstanding, the temples open their gates.
The immortal peaches have just rippened, Last night, a Daoist sent the
peaches to me.
In Yi Hui, "Guo Baiyun Guan shi Zhang Kunhe laoren jiang chuan daojie gan qi ci du ren yi" M S S H
V$}Mtf%k%AffiWM$M-klk%.A&,
Liushui bian ^ J d f i , in Zhang, Heji, 10.587.
499

Yi Hui, "Zai gaoman yi yue bazhi shuzhi, run liu yue shi'er" # FiM~Fl MMii~& H / \ H + ,
Liushui bian, 10.585.
500

Besides the family visiting the temple, Master Zhang also visited the couple at home. See "Ranran yun:
Yu zhong Zhang Kunhe guofang"#-f4lt: If ^ H ^ H i U S , Gu, Donghaiyuge, 1.200.

227

The spiritual fungus will automatically become a fetus.

There should be a wandering immortal,
Who can go and come on a cloud at ease.

Siting, #ia^.

# , mnmMo m
The note that a Daoist sent her some peaches provokes her imagination of the immortals'
world. As legend goes, every year the Queen Mother of the West will hold a party
featuring the immortal peaches, said to give longevity to those who eat.

The guests at

the party are all gods, goddesses and transcendents. The lyrical speaker, the invisible
wandering Daoist immortal on the cloud and even the mountain itself, unfold a Western
Paradise in contrast to the mundane East Mountain. With these poetic images, the poem
transforms from one of recording an actual journey to a transcendental experience in the
immortal world.
Similarly, in the following poem, Gu Taiqing skillfully combines her poem with a
Daoist hagiography, playing with the religious concepts:
On the Twentieth Day, I Visited the Daoist at Beiyin Cave Who Was Absent, so I
Wrote This Poem on the Wall
When the mountain ends, suddenly there is a path,
I rode my horse into the Tiantai.
The immortal dog barks at me,
The flowers blossom against the sun.
The wind blows the pair of light green sleeves,
The fog freezes the ancient dark green moss.
I did not see the guest from Xuandu,503
501

Gu, "Dongshan zashi" jfllJLlltaxf (The miscellaneous poems at East Mountain), in Tianyouge shiji, 1.9.

502

See chap. 5, "The Great Sage, stealing elixir, disrupts the Peach Festival; Many gods try to catch the
monster, a rebel in Heaven," in Yu, Journey to the West, 134-49.
503

In the last two lines, the "Xuandu ke"^f #|S refers to the Daoist monk that Gu Taiqing interacted with.
It is said that Xuandu is the immortals' dwelling.

228

And left my poem, planning to visit again.

ibm&m&, mm\?i&*
^M>-zm%, mmwM*504
Beiyin Cave was not a temple in a strict sense, but nevertheless served the same function
as a cultivation site. This poem is about visiting a Daoist monk at his home but missing
him. The motif comes from the Tang poet Jia Dao's "Seeking But Not Finding The
Recluse."

In Gu Taiqing's poem, the focus is not a conversation, as in Jia Dao's poem,

but the visitor's personal observation and imagination of the Beiyin Cave. In this picture,
there are a horse, a guest, a dog, flowers, and rich descriptions of the weather and colors.
The visitor's gender is specified through the light green sleeves that refer to women's
clothing and often women in general.
In the poem, the female visitor's location is Tiantai ^ p . In the South Valley
where Gu Taiqing visited, there was a Buddhist temple called Tiantai Temple. Here, it is
likely that Gu purposefully played with the two names: the Tiantai Temple in Beijing and
Mount Tiantai in Zhejiang down in the south. Mount Tiantai is located in Shan %
county (present-day Sheng ilpjl county, Zhejiang), and is a holy mountain for religious
Daoism. As the provenance goes, Liu Chen SlJH and Ruan Zhao l5tH, local Shan
county people, accidentally discovered an immortal world at Mount Tiantai and had

Gu, Tianyou ge shiji, 1.79.

Quan Tangshi, 574.6746. See note 250.

229

romantic affairs with beautiful female transcendents there.

Instead of the usual

situation of male explorers unexpectedly encountering beautiful women in the immortal

world, Gu's poem creates a female traveler who initiates a visit purposefully to a Daoist
sacred place. Here an active female spiritual pursuit takes the place of female seduction.
Indeed, Daoist culture is a consistent resource for Gu Taiqing's spiritual and
poetic life. What needs to be pointed out is that her interaction with religious beliefs is
much more complex than with just Daoism alone. In fact, her poems on temple visits
show her connection to multiple religions and popular beliefs, including Buddhism and
shamanism.
Some temples that Gu visited were old sites from the Ming dynasty. One such
poem is entitled "On the Eighth Month of the Year of Wuzi (1828) in the Rain, I Visited
the Deserted Site of the Palace of Heavenly Luck and Prosperity in the Western Part of
the City." 507 The Palace of Heavenly Luck and Prosperity was a Daoist temple, but
instead of a guan as in the Baiyun Guan, it was called gong for its larger scale. The
Zhenwu Tang jS-B^II (Hall of Zhenwu) was part of the temple dedicated to the god in
charge of the north, also called Xuanwu "2f 3, which originally referred to the
combination of seven stars in the north, but later became the name of a powerful Daoist
guardian god. During the Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties, belief in Zhenwu greatly
developed and was supported by various emperors.508 Gu Taiqing wrote "Faxiang cannot

506

Liu Yiqing, Youming lu $& Bgii, in Lu Xun #ffi, comp., Gu xiaoshuo gouchen ^'hWiWtfL,
quanji # 3 t ^ r ^ , vol. 8 (Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1973), 361-62.
507

"Wuzi bayue yuzhong you chengxi Tianxi changyungong

in Gu, Tianyouge shiji, 1.6.
508

feizW/KTAUM^'M^iM^MmMMM^L,

Mei Li WM, "Zhenwu xinyang yanjiu zongshu" M$,^Wffi%i&M,

(2005): 35-40.

230

Lu Xun

Zongjiaoyanjiu %Wffi%

be recognized, / the weeds deeply bury the Zhenwu Hall" i f ^ & f f i i ^ fcH, MW-MM
MMi'sL. Faxiang is a Buddhist term, meaning the internal nature of everything.

This

medley of Buddhist and Daoist concepts reflect the hybrid nature of her beliefs. In her
poems, these terms of different origins co-exist, showing "synchronism of the three
teachings (Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism)" EL^fcij common during the MingQing period. 51 It is also possible, of course, that as Gu Taiqing was exposed to various
religious beliefs, these terms had become part of her poetic vocabulary merely for artistic
use.
Gu Taiqing's awareness of Buddhism included various schools, such as the Chan
sect:
I Passed the Chanfu Temple and Worshiped the Buddha Statue in Sandalwood
For the first time, I climbed into the Buddhist temple,
I bowed in front of the Buddha.
Transmigration is the law of the universe,
A haze of incense flows beneath the trees.
The six senses are clarified in the Enlightened Sea [Buddhism],
The five components complete the mundane attachment.
After understanding the principle of "no birth,"
One will know Chan at the highest level.

7 N M , 5 J 1 7 O

509

See Ren Jiyu HMM,

ed., Fojiao dacidian ftiSCfcSH (Nanjing: Jiangsu guji chubanshe, 2002), 838-

39.
510

511

See Esposito, "Daoism in the Qing (1644-1911)," 643-48.

Gu, Tianyouge shiji, 1.41.

231

Liugen / s t i . refers to six indriyas or sense-organs: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind.
Wuyun 2 L H refers to the five skandhas (Paflcaskandha), "the components of a sentient
being, especially a human being.512 Wusheng M$L refers to the Buddhist enlightenment
that there is no boundary in the birth and death of all beings. Zuishang chart, the highest
level of Chan Buddhism, is enlightenment and detachment.
Gu Taiqing also has some indirect interactions with shamanism and Tibetan
Buddhism, which are reflected in her poem about her husband's trip in 1831 to the
Kunning Palace for a royal sacrifice:
On the First Day of the Tenth Lunar Month, Beile Was First Invited to Eat the
Sacred Meat at Kunning Palace, I Recorded His Journey with Respect"
The thought for returning the favor is endless,
In winter, they pay respect to the Gods.
The universe started from one origin,
And there is a spring for thousands of families.
A prosperous royal clan,
A crowd of uplifting ministers.
Holding some sticky cake near his chest,
In person, he served it to the Grand Mistress.

512

Gu Taiqing was probably not a Buddhist in the strictest sense; however, the journey to this temple was
taken as a pilgrimage nevertheless. The poem, especially the last four lines reflects her understanding of
Chan. Wuyun refers to (1) fe rupa, form, matter, the physical form related to the five organs of sense; (2)
5 vedana, reception, sensation, feeling, the functioning of the mind or senses in connection with affairs
and things; (3) W- sanjna, conception, or discerning; the functioning of mind in distinguishing; (4) fif
samskara, the functioning of the mind in its processes regarding like and dislike, good and evil, etc.; (5) fg
vijnana, mental faculty in regard to perception and cognition, discriminative of affairs and things. William
Edward Soothill and Lewis Hodous, comps., A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms with Sanskrit and
English Equivalents and a Sanskrit-Pali Index (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co.Ltd., 1975),
126.

232

mm^mw, mmx^x^513
Located inside the inner palace, Kunning Palace was established in 1420 and was mainly
used for two purposes: emperors' weddings and the religious rituals of shamanism.514
Wu Zhenyu ^ J I M (1792-1870) recorded: "On the first day of the tenth lunar month, at
the Kunning Palace, a pole will be established for offering sacrifices to gods. The princes,
dukes and ministers will be summoned for tasting the meat" -\~B fM 0 ^ W ^ ^ f E #
I g ^ ^ M ^ t U T - S I ^ ^ E ^ ^ ] . 5 1 5 During the Qing dynasty as rulers considered a
combination of shamanism and Tibetan Buddhism as the court religion, the Kunning
Palace became an important site for the observance during which eating pork was an
important procedure. The Manchu nationality largely depended on hunting and
maintained a tradition of gathering to eat their prey, which continued after the Manchus
took the throne of China. At the ritual, the boiled meat, plain, without adding salt or
sauce, was offered to the participants, who were supposed to cut a piece of meat with a
knife. Being able to eat such meat at the Kunning Palace no doubt represented an honor
only reserved for people with high status such as Yihui, because it could not be taken out
of the palace.516 The participants of the ritual were, however, allowed to take home the
sticky cakes. At a shaman ritual, various gods such as the Boddisattva Guanyin, the Earth
God, or even animals and objects are paid respect. The leader of the rite often turned out
513

Gu, Tianyouge shiji, 1.25.

514

Chi Han MB, "Kunning Gong de xingzhi biange ji yingxiang"ij^#J^$!JS?,$.;KiP, Dongnan

chuanbo 3 K S f t } | 8 (2006): 75-76. Fu Lianzhong fl|M#, "Kunning Gong ji shen ji tian" * f J * g ^ # ^
%y Zijin cheng ^ S t $ { 2 (2002): 4. Also see Elliott, Manchu Way, 235-41.
515

Wu Zhenyu, Yangjizhai conglu # * S f r # l $ , 14. la, in Jindai Zhongguo shiliao congkan J f r f ^ HI jtl!4
WM, ed. Shen Yunlong t t S f t , vol. 220 (Taibei xian Yonghe zhen: Wenhai chubanshe, 1968), 307.

516

Fu, "Kunning Gong," 7.

233

to be female, either the empress or a professional shamanka.517 Thus during the Qing,
shamanism kept many primitive characteristics and combined multiple beliefs. As the
concubine of a Manchu prince, Gu Taiqing had the unique opportunity to record such
religious rituals which further complicated her religious knowledge.
Besides having contact with religious beliefs through self-cultivation and royal
rituals, Gu Taiqing and Yihui supported the Tiantai Temple, a declining Buddhist
monastery. In a poem entitled "Visiting the Tiantai Temple in the South Valley" Ml^itfi
^ n Tf, Gu Taiqing wrote:
The big South Valley surrounds the Tiantai Temple,
The halls are uneven in the heavy clouds and mist.
The wild birds and mountain peaks are all universal truth,
Green pines and ancient cypresses look like swimming dragons.
The huge round mirror is engraved with a thousand hands, In the temple,
there is a huge round mirror engraved
with a statue of Boddisattva Guanyin
with one thousand hands.

In the short distance, the blue sky presses the disorganized peaks.
Detaining my horse at the Eastern slope right after the rain,
In the southwest, purple cotton hibiscus stands high.

$.mm.mmmm, mmnm^mo518
Gu has quite a few poems about the South Valley which was located to the west of
Yongding /1<.^ River and to the east of Dafang j^M Mountain. This place was
important for her family, because in 1834, Yihui bought it and rebuilt it for his retirement
and as a family graveyard. 5

Yihui so loved the peaceful environment of the valley area

Ibid, 5-6.
Gu, Tianyouge shiji, 1.35.
Both Miaohua, Yi Hui's wife, and Gu Taiqing were buried here. See Gu, Tianyouge shiji, 1.35.

234

that he traded his own field of more than two thousand mu SA for the area. Buying the
valley from the monks of Tiantai temple was in fact an act of kindness since for a long
time the temple had suffered from financial problems and harassment from certain royal
forces.
But even Yihui did not have enough money to maintain the property:
Because of the emperor's generosity, I borrowed some money to buy the
mountain,
The Southern Valley was deep enough to be a graveyard.
To bury his wife the Prince asks for the land,
How can commoners who even lack food dare ask for the favor from
the emperor?
I overdrafted thirty million,
And will try to pay back within twenty years.
My salary regretfully could not pay for this,
With difficulty, I bring the family learning forward.

mmmmm, mmmmmmmo521
Being able to take out this big loan was a privilege of the royal family members. This
loan indirectly saved the poor temple, a unique interaction between Buddhist monks and
Qing royal family members.

520

Liu Xiaomeng ^d'hiff, "Qingdai Beijing qiren de fendi he jitianyiju beike jinxing de kaocha"VErf:|t
RMAM^i&ftgim
ikMWMl&Tfttj^,
in Qingshi iuncong !M $.skM, comp. Zhongguo shehui
kexueyuan lishi yanjiusuo Ming Qing shi yanjiushi (Beijing: Zhongguo guangbo dianshi chubanshe, 2001),
7-8.
521
"Jie feng ji en zhi kui shi: Meng en zhi luyin shinian er wan qi qian liang, jiazhi guanqian san qian san
bai wan, fenzuo ershi nian huan Hubu"-fg#iffiStt&!#: I L S ^ i l + ^ - l f - f r f f f i ,
ffig'g'tgH^H
WM, 3 M ^ + ^ i f i F BP (A poem written for thanking the emperor's kindness in loaning me money and
for expressing my feeling of shameness: because of the emperor's generosity, I could overdraft my salary
silver of 27,000 liang which was worth the official currency value of 33,000,000. I will pay back my loan
to the Board of Revenue and Population within twenty years." Yihui, Mingshantang wenji, 7.550.

235

Gu's interactions with these temples elucidate her religious connections. However,
visiting the temples was not just a religious pilgrimage for her, but more importantly, an
occasion for appreciating life and fulfilling her passion for poetry.

"Flowers" at the Temples: Women Poets' Gatherings

"Chinese women genuinely loved flowers and apparently accepted the whole
package of girl-and-flower associations perpetuated by centuries of poems, stories, and
legends, not to mention female names." 522 The meetings between Gu Taiqing and her
female friends often took place in temples, not surprisingly, with appreciating flowers as
the initial purpose of the excursion. In one instance, she wrote a poem entitled "Fayuansi
kan haitang yu Ruan Xu Yunjiang, Xu Shi Shanzhi, Qian Li Renlan ji ci bike Qian Baifu
laoren shiyun ershou zeng

^''fe^##^SKfSifWitft&^IiiP#;M!l

ISW^S^i AI^BI"tflH^CWhile appreciating the crab apple blossoms at the Fayuan

Temple, I met Ruan Xu Yunjiang, Xu Shi Shanzhi, Qian Li Renlan, and immediately
followed the rhyme of old master Qian Baifu's poem to compose two poems to give to
them as a gift). This accidental meeting promoted a series of passionate and frequent
poetry exchanges.
It was the poem written on the wall by the male poet Qian Baifu H W?S whose
original name was Qian Zai ^M

(1708-1793), that became the starting point for the

friends' poetic exchange. He was a native of Xiushui H7K (present-day Jiaxing, Zhejiang
province) and was well-known for his upright personality as a shilang #@P (Vice
Minister). Qian Zai's original poem is as follows:
522

Marsha Weidner et al., Views from Jade Terrace, 24.

236

Crab Apple Blossoms

The flowers blossomed and I repeatedly knock on your door,
The spring is almost over and the poetic lines have been circulated
several times.
The incense of the Buddha is strong and wide-spreading,
An old man's state of mind is still thrilling.
The green moss is spreading in the yard,
The tall locust trees are half covered by mist.
How can I stop cherishing this view?
The fallen petals just reached the front of the balustrade.

mm
mm^m, mxmmm,523
Inspired by the poem, Gu Taiqing wrote two poems in response and circulated
them among her female friends. One of the poems reads as follows:
In late spring, the trees were full of blossoms,
The beauty of the flowers was spread through the guests.
The green shade moved around with the sun,
The red petals toppled in the wind wildly.
I ran into the beauties from the Jiangnan,
The trees were beautiful in the mist at the Buddhist temple.
I composed this poem to send to those with the same taste,
Greeting them in front of their windows carved with decorative patterns.

mmmnm, amftsji.
mm^mn, mm,mm524

Gu Taiqing's poem is a poem in the popular form of ciyun ^fit which means using the
same rhyme sequence as the previous poem while responding to it.525
523

Qian, "Hai tang," in Fayuansi WM^f', ed. Zhongguo fojiao tushu wenwuguan ^ S i f t t S J I I I i l r ^ W i S
(Beijing: Beijing Fayuansi liutongchu, 1981), 88.
524

Gu, Tianyouge shiji, 2.49.

237

The ciyun poems are a two-edged sword: because of the rule of matching the
rhymes, the poet who wrote the responding poem must use the exact rhymes, which, in
some degree, restricts poetic composition; but on the other hand, such a regulated
structure can make the composition easier for the poet who can start from a small point
by following the rule with the possibility of also creating some unique poetic images.
Another important function of the ciyun poems is that since every participant uses the
same characters with the same rhymes, they basically share a similar framework that can
be fairly compared. In this case, the poetic tradition of ciyun offers a good venue for
literati to appreciate and compete with each other.526
Gu Taiqing wrote as many as eight poems to respond to Qian Zai's poem, using
exactly the same rhymes, chuan fl|, dian I I , yan JK, qian ftf, in all of them. In this case,
the poem on the wall truly inspired the form and content of Gu Taiqing's creative writing.
And if the poem on the wall served as the formulaic inspiration, then the temple gathering
of the female friends provided the inspiration for their content. Gu Taiqing extends Qian

Chinese literati have a long tradition of writing a responding poem to an original poem. Exchanging
poems carries the significance of nourishing friendship, competing or learning how to write poems from
each other in the literary circle. This tradition has its origin in Tao Yuanming's works with the mid-Tang as
a turning point. Before the mid-Tang, the common practice was for the second poet to adopt the meaning of
the first poem and rewrite a new poem. Therefore, in the response, a large portion was from the first poet,
and the second author himself probably only added a couple of lines of comments. In such poems,
matching the rhymes was not a concern. However, in the mid-Tang, two leading poets, Bai Juyi SJilria
(772-846) and Yuan Zhen ThM (779-831), shifted the focus from heyi %UM (matching the original
meaning) to heyun ^BHM (matching the original end rhymes), which means the second poet can write on the
same topic, but the poetic construction of the new poem has little to do with the original poem. In other
words, the poets who respond to the original poem will have more space for creativity. The only rule they
have to follow is to use the rhymes of the first poet. See Zhao Yiwu ffiW.Si, "Tao Yuanming liushou heshi
xinjie"MHJ3Affnf#T$fs Gansu shehui kexue t M S * t # r # 2 (1997): 72-75, 25; Zhao Yiwu, "Heyi
bu heyun: shilun Zhong Tang yiqian changheshi de tedian yu tizhi"^P&^FlHM: ttl c f :I JSy.H!J' |I IffI# W
^ i ^ f f f IJ," Gansu shehui kexue # H } # f 4 * 3 (1997): 55-59.
526

Tong Xiangfei ML [R]M, "Shici changhe de lishi, yanjiu yiyi ji yajiu xianzhuang gaishu"i#fnII>Elf P B-J IE
> ^\%mMRWt%WM.W&,
Hubei daxue chengrenjiaoyu xueyuan xuebao v t t ^ ^ A i t W ? ^
# $ g 19, no. 5(2001): 33-35.

238

Zai's poetic images of flowers to the link between flowers and women. Her poem
translated above carries a mood of "excitement" reflected in the merging of flowers and
literary women. The flowers were dancing and the women were enjoying each other's
company in the temple. The last two lines further extend such excitement to all women
who love poetry, at or away from the temple: the petals and the fresh poems are blown
from the temple to the window of a woman's boudoir. Thus a link is made between the
woman's boudoir and the temple, using the flowers and women's poems as messengers to
reach out to more women. A few women's traveling pleasure became more women's
literary ideal, which destabilizes the so-called fixed inner/outer boundary symbolically.
Several spaces are interacting with each other in such a movement: the temple, the
literary circle and the symbolic boudoir. The distance between interested people
disappears, and the boundary between the women's communication and their limited
domestic space fades away.
As Gu Taiqing wrote in her poem mentioned above, the women were all from the
Jiangnan area. Ruan Xu Yunjiang, Xu Shi Shanzhi, Qian Li Renlan were all from elite
families in the prosperous Jiangnan area. Xu Yunjiang was the style name of Xu Yanjin
frF3S$ who originally came from Deqing Hi fit, Zhejiang province, and was married to
the eminent official and scholar Ruan Yuan's I5C7C (1764-1849) son Ruan Fu Pic IB
(fl.l9th-c). Shi Shanzhi, born in Wu ^ county, Jiangsu province, was the daughter of
Shi Yunyu 5 l i (1756-1837) and wife of Xu Naijia W73H (fl. second half of the 18thc.-first half of the 19th-c), a cousin of Xu Naipu W 7 3 # (1787-1866) who was a
Surveillance Commissioner $z.W^i$. of Shandong and an Academician in the Grand
Secretariat rtHf^d:. Li Renlan's name was Li Jiezhi ^^V|jt, and her style names
239

include Songbing sSftK and Renlan. She was a native of Kunshan Hill, Jiangsu province
and wife of Qian Baohui MWM

(fl. 19 th -c), son of Qian Yiji U l i ^ (1783-1850),

Supervising Censor I ^ & n ^ ^ K Such a temple gathering signified a regional interaction

between Gu Taiqing, a poet who came from Beijing and her sojourning friends who
migrated from the Jiangnan area.
The influence of the Fayuan Temple encounter created by the poems did not stop
on that day. Ten days later, Gu Taiqing wrote another three poems on a fan in response
to Xu Yunjiang:
Repeating the Previous Rhymes, I Painted the Crab Apple Flowers on the Fan to
Reply to Yunjiang (Three Poems)
At sunset, arrived a blue bird,
That delivered some surprisingly fine poetic lines.
The universe was filled up with the spirit of spring,
In wind and rain, these flowers turned wild.
At the Buddhist temple, I met immortal companions,
The fragrant clouds sent out wonderful mist.
If those beautiful appearances could be drawn,
I would send some fine white silk to you.

H # * & , fAPU#=

Happy to see the trees next to the hall,

Whose blossoms have been beautiful for several generations.
If this view discloses the meaning of Chan, don't be bothered,
Complacence brings them unrestrained.
Flowers catch several drops from the flying rain,
The lush branches are about to turn into mist.
The sun starts to become angled, and the wind also rises,
Our mutual appreciations just took place a moment ago.

240

Even the short moment, we should cherish,

The high state of mind is worth passing on.
When we gain white hair, we might not be healthy enough to meet,
Even gold cannot buy the unrestrained enjoyment.
Through painting, we pick the branches and leaves,
Beautiful jade replaces the cloud and mist.
How lucky at the temple in the southern part of the city,
That we met ten days ago.

immw^f, mm-tBrno527
These poems keep Qian Zai's end rhymes, but have claimed independence from the
original poem and transformed into a special linguistic tradition serving an all-female
community. In these poems, Gu Taiqing emphasizes the rarity of such a wonderful
gathering. In the first poem, she describes her friends as immortal companions traveling
on the clouds to the temple. Immortals, who come and go in seconds, symbolize the
"unattainable." The second poem focuses on the transitoriness of the gathering: "The lush
branches are about to turn into mist.... / Our mutual appreciation just took place a
moment ago." The first two lines of the third poem continue where the second poem
leaves off, turning the impermanent moment of gathering into a permanent memory.
After these three poems, Gu Taiqing wrote yet another set of three to Xu
Yunjiang and Li Renlan, and this time the focus shifted from remembering the Fayuan
Temple gathering to pure mutual appreciation of each other's works. It is the memory of
the trip in particular that maintains the women's literary community that spontaneously
came into being at the temple:
Gu, Tianyouge shiji, 2.49.

241

After That Spring Day at Fayuan Temple, In Response to Vice Minister Qian's
Poem, I Have Written Five Poems. Yunjiang Then Increased the Number to Six,
and Renlan Wrote the Seventh Poem and Another Long Heptasyllabic Song in
Seal Characters. By the Time I Received These Items, I Had Already Written
Another Three Poems to Match the Rhymes as a Reply
The essay, smooth and fine, came
With the sparkly seal-style calligraphy from the Qin.
I admire your tip of the brush,
Your improvement directs at the top of the rod.
Your words flow like the waves in the season of the peach blossom,
Your talent turns like the cloud-like jade trees.
Who expected that among the gentry women,
Some would stand out to become unprecedented?

&m-t ir ^ &.ikwm=mz

You have well read the ancient texts,

As a famous elite woman from Xiushui.
Your calligraphy bears the style of Wu Cailuan,528
And your talent follows the unrestrained Mi Fu.
Your calligraphy of Jincuo and Daojiu 529carries immortal dew,
The jade hall is filled with the precious haze.
The breeze is spreading in the deep valley,
You differ from the unworthy literati of today.

Nowadays people often appear indiscreet,

Without true talent, they want to gain fame.
Occasionally their names become known,
But shortly they will fall upside down.
528

For the allusion of Wu Cailuan, see chap. 4.

Jincuo ^ I B and Daojiu filllS are two ancient styles of calligraphy.

242

People like us consider this kind of fame a burden,

Those commercial publications will diminish like smoke.
You two truly understand me,
And we harmonize in the spirit of the Ya and Song.

mn&m, mrnmm*
In the first poem, Gu Taiqing greatly admired Xu Yunjiang and Li Renlan's talent
in poetry and calligraphy. The second poem is specifically dedicated to Li Renlan who
wrote the long poem using the seal character style of calligraphy. Li had more than one
talent: a profound knowledge of classics and excellent calligraphy, for which Gu Taiqing
compared Li to the female transcendent Wu Cailuan of the Tang and the great Song
calhgrapher Mi Fu.

It so happens that both Li Renlan and Qian Zai are from Xiushui.

It is therefore interesting to note that this set of poems was initiated by a reputable
Xiushui male literatus, and was finished by the talented woman poet Gu Taiqing on an
equally talented Xiushui woman Li Renlan, which projected the unique cultural
phenomenon of the prominent elite women artists in the nineteenth century.
The third poem concentrates on Gu Taiqing's attitude toward publication and the
circulation of writings in her time. In the poem under discussion, she attempted to
distinguish her own community from some other popular circles by criticizing the trend
of publishing casually for fame and profit. She included Xu Yunjiang and Li Renlan into
her community and associated them with the elegant classics "Ya" (Elegance) and
"Song" (Odes). "Ya" and "Song" are the two sections of the first poetry collection of

530

Gu, Tianyouge shiji, 1.52.

531

See the discussions on Mi Fu in chap. 3 and Wu Cailuan in chap. 4.

243

China Book of Songs. Gu Taiqing was consciously defending her elite status in the issue
of poetry circulation and literary community. The friends she associated with at the
Fayuan Temple were all from elite families and the circulation of their poems was within
a small circle. She was very cautious about publishing her poems, and with whom her
poems were associated. Her concern over the inappropriate circulation of their poetry
was not uncommon among elite women. Lady Wang, the concubine of a Qing literatus
Xu Shipu fttirv# (18th-c.?), wrote more than two hundred shi and ci poems, but when her
husband planned to publish them, she rejected the suggestion. She not only refused to
publish but even intended to burn her manuscripts.
It is because whoever have been publishing poems list the category of "Famous
Ladies" right after the "Monks and Nuns." Then the poems written by chaste
women, martyred women and women from honorable families will be associated
with courtesans and other unworthy authors. Every time my concubine talked
about this, she was strongly against this.

mmmmmmmm-, mnnz., nwismo532

The woman poet Gu Zhenli I I ^ ^ l (ca.1637-ca.1714) adhered to a similar idea in her
poem "Fen jiugao" ^ I f H (Burning my old manuscript):
Facing the wind, I tried to stop my tears and poured the wine for sacrifice
onto the ground,
Several years of sadness in leisure was paid for by one burning.
For what reason can I bear the pain to see my poems transform into
butterflies to fly away? 33
532

Qian Zhongshu t S ^ i t , Guan zhui bian I f i i l i i (Hong Kong: Zhonghua shuju, 1979), 810. Also see
809-13.

533

"Hudie yu sangji zhishi" MM.%^^^M,

Tanghu qiao shu erbian ffivfflfflt$i, Lai Jizhi %M2(jinshi 1640), 8.94a-95b, in Xuxiu siku quanshu Mi&^!$9,
zibu TU, zajialei i t i C , vol. 1196
(Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1995-2002), 252-53.1 thank Sookja Cho for pointing out this source
to me. Also see the story of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai becoming a pair of butterflies after death.
Zhao Qingge ffiSf K3, Liang Shanbo yu Zhu Yingtai Mlh{&$&$lMn, trans. Thomas Shou (Beijing: Xin
shijie chubanshe, 1998).

244

How can I allow it to wander destitute into the bags of vulgar people?

im&nmmi:, nmtm$xm534
Gu Taiqing consciously limited her writings to a certain audience and did not join
any literary community easily. The leader of the Bicheng group, Chen Wenshu (17711843) wanted to make friends with her but she despised him:
The Old Man Chen, style name Boyun, a native of Qiantang, Calls Himself an
Immortal. He Wrote a Ci Collection from the Bicheng Immortal Club Which
Included Many Flashy Words, and Furthermore More than Ten Female Disciples
Helped Flatter Him. Last Autumn, He Asked Yunlin to Send Me One Juan of His
Work Lotus Raft and Two Inkslabs to Me as a Gift. Because I Despised His Moral
Quality, I Avoided Accepting This Gift. Today I Saw His Letter to Yunlin in
Which, for his collection New Songs from the Capital, a Certain Xilin Taiqing
Wrote a Poem and Chen Responded with a Ciyun Poem. This Case Was Indeed
Absurd and Especially Ridiculous, and I Am Not Sure Who Is This Taiqing and
Who Is That Taiqing, and Therefore I Use His Rhymes to Record This Case in
My Poem
The crappy trick seems too tactful,
How can a wild duck understand the noble swan?
The flashy words forever fall into the dark prison,
A mediocre man desires to climb into the Palace of the Utmost
Clearness.
The group of Bicheng, I am afraid to be included in,
A sea of people have been despising this man.
I will disregard your crazy words and just laugh,
The floating cloud cannot block the red sunlight.

+&AKM&m%m%Kmmmtt-%mr.&%m:?ffl%%Amm

mmimmm^, AMAmm%
M ^
mmytmmmm,
535
1

Yun Zhu, Guochao guixiu zhengshixuji Hlfj|i]5t

]E1&M&MM,

' Gu, Tianyouge shiji, 5.116.

245

2 .13b-2.14a.

In Gu Taiqing's time, Chen Wenshu emulated the practice of Yuan Mei to call together a
group of female disciples called Bicheng female disciples. For him, including Gu Taiqing,
was essential for the reputation or the popularity of his poetry collection. Chen Wenshu's
idea was not without reason since Gu Taiqing was a famous Manchu woman poet in
Beijing, and therefore the inclusion of her poems would not only expand regional
coverage, it would also benefit from this association with the royal family. Although the
reason that Gu rejected Chen's offer was never clearly stated, it could be seen in her
poetic line "A sea of people have been despising this man." Decidedly, her opinion was
quite popular among her contemporaries:
.. .Nobody expected that later Chen Boyun (Wenshu), also the County Magistrate
from Qiantang, would imitate [Yuan Mei]. Chen also compiled a two-juan poetry
collection entitled Poetry Collection from the Bicheng Immortal Club which
included twenty-two women. In the summer of Emperor Daoguang's reign in
1842, the collection was published by the private publisher of Tower for Listening
to the Fragrant. In our dynasty, Suiyuan [Yuan Mei] was notorious. Although
Yao Jichuan (Nai) wrote an epitaph for Yuan at that time, many people refused to
do so; this could be found in Letters from Xibao Xuan. Chen only imitated
Suiyuan's shortcomings, ...

yfmM^mmmmmmx^m^pjrMo %m mmmic^m)
m, it-+-A, Miiiicxj!, n#Hgfj*o mm^ttmmT-mT536
m^RM)) . BfcRfflftBtg, * ,
0
According to this quotation, in Gu Taiqing's time, it was controversial for a male
literatus to be associated with women in public, even for the sake of literary exchange,
because most people would associate such actions with licentious behavior. A community
like Bicheng celebrated diversity for including not only the elite women, such as Wu Zao,
Wang Duan, Shen Shanbao, but other underrepresented groups, such as the nuns,
Liu, "Er nii dizi shi," 9.857.

246

Yunxian Xiaomi IHllKh5& and Jinglian Yunxiang ^ J E B I I ? . Yet the image of nuns was
often negative: they were known to either mislead gentry women or promote licentious
activities in the name of religion. 537 Diametrically opposed to Yuan Mei's action of
accepting female disciples, Zhang Xuecheng labeled the selected gentry women as no
better than courtesans:
Recently a shameless swindler who claims his "savoir vivre" tries to deceive
women with the talent-beauty stories in the theatrical performances. South of the
Yangzi River many gentry women were misled and actively submitted their poem
manuscripts for publication to spread fame. They ride roughshod over the gender
boundary and have utterly forgotten their female identity. Such women reject
women's learning in the inner quarters: how can they have true talent? They are
incited to vice by evil people, which caused many concerns.

A . Aawm, %rttmMM%iffiMo mmm, mmm%, mm%

#, m$JM&. A'&ittit, A^M&o 538
It was women mingling with men that was at the center of the controversy.
Furthermore, the idea that women who circulated their poems with men were morally
problematic had been deep rooted in Chinese culture since long before the eighteenth
century.539 Gu Taiqing's stance in this case can be perceived as a self-protection or
self-promotion. It is a self-protection because she avoided the controversy to protect
her social reputation as an aristocrat and her artistic association with high culture. It is

537

538

Grant, "Chan Friends."

Quoted in Ma, Wentan jiaxiu, 124.

539
Sun Guangxian 1&%M (d.968) recorded such a case: "She [Xiao Weixiang] was talented and unmarried.
Through the window of her residence, she met a literatus Wang Xuanyan (Jinshi). Together they eloped to
Langya where they indulged themselves in sex. Wang finally moved somewhere else and left her. Then
she began to meet with other men passing by. Without a man to permanently depend on, she hanged
herself. Several hundreds of poems were left at the hotel she had stayed. This is why talent is not women's
business." In Sun, Beimeng suoyan itW'M'S (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1960), 6.56.

247

a self-promotion because she declared her membership of the literary debate of her
time.
Although Gu Taiqing criticized the Bicheng group, she was a strong supporter of
women writing poetry. In a poem to her sixth daughter, she wrote:
My Sixth Daughter Will Marry the Family of Xitala (Hitara), and I Wrote This
Poem for Her
It is a virtue for women to lack talent, Thefolkwisdom goes like this.
But you should not stop writing because of this.
Our family is too poor to give you gold and jade,
And you only have poems and books as your dowry.

mHcM%M<k^., M f i t M i .

540

In another poem dedicated to her daughter Yiwen \>X~SL, she wrote:

Don't imitate your brothers' laziness,
You should be as virtuous as your elder sister. Shuwen never complains or
becomes angry.

If after womanly work, you still have time,

Don't neglect literary works.

-kmmWi, R%mmm541
Gu Taiqing also joined an all-women poetry club and exchanged poems with the
women. In 1839, Gu Taiqing, Shen Shanbao, Xiang Pingshan 1%M ill (d. 1869), Xu
Yunlin and Qian Bofang t i f S : ^ (fl. ^ - c . ) organized a poetry club Autumn River

Gu, Tianyouge shiji, 6.144.

541

In Zhang's Heji, this title of the poem and twenty-one characters are missing, see Tianyou ge shiji, 6.160.
However, based on the edition of Tianyouge shiji available in Japan, Zhao Botao provided the complete
version of the poem. See note 289. Also see, Zhang, Kuangdai cainti, 124.

248

Poetry Club (Qiujiang Yinshe IKSC^?!). 542 The Chinese scholar Yuan Xingpei MfaW
points out the importance of regional theory on literary studies: "If at a certain period of
time, a group of writers rose in the same area, this made the area a gathering site for the
literati. If during a certain period of time, literati were active in a certain place, then this
became a literary center."543 The Jiangnan area in the Ming-Qing period was exactly such
an area where many women writers rose in groups, and therefore, Jiangnan became a
center where women's poetry exchanges frequently took place. The female friends
mentioned in the Fayuan Temple poems were all from the Jiangnan area, and they
traveled to Beijing due to the job relocation of their husbands. But these women brought
Jiangnan culture with them, and when they were active in poetry writing together with
local women like Gu Taiqing, a new cultural center came into being. Because of the
fashion of traveling to the temples for flower appreciation, the Beijing local poet Gu
Taiqing could meet these Jiangnan women to start a poetry exchange. The formation of
this poetry club reflected cross-regional interactions, and also shed some light on how
travel could benefit women poets and community formation. Here we can clearly see
how women's travel played an active role in spreading and promoting cultural exchanges.
Women's poetic exchanges not only reveal their poetic cultivation, but also the
versatility of female talent:
On the Twenty-second Day of the Fourth Month, Yunjiang Invited Me to
Appreciate Peonies at Chongxiao Temple with Shanzhi, Su'an and Renlan. On
Our Journey, We Ran into Lu Xiuqing and Wang Peizhi. On That Day, Yunjiang
542

Shen Shanbao tfcHll, Mingyuan shihua ^itSMtS, in Zhang, Heji, 757. The members of the poetry
club also included Xu Yunjiang, Dong'e Shaoru, Fucha Ruixian, see Gu's poem "Yuchuang ganjiu" Mllf
l1f, in Tianyouge shiji, 7.170.
543

Yuan, Zhongguo wenxuegailun ^Wi^C^Mik ( T ^ H ^ ) (Beijing: Gaodengjiaoyu chubanshe, 2006),

52. Also see chap. 3 in this book "Zhongguo wenxue de diyuxing yu wenxuejia de dili fenbu" 41 Iffl3t^W
W c t t J & i ^ l f t i M ^ f f i , 40-58.

249

Gave Me a Folded Fan, Asking Me to Paint a Branch of Plum Blossoms after

Returning, and I Wrote This Poem at the Top of the Fan
The long lines are written in the small-sized seal characters from the Jade
Mountain,
The fresh branches come out of the ancient locust tree.
I am grateful for Yunjiang, but how can I return her favor?
She has given me a fan with plum blossoms in black ink, and I will return to her
this fan with red blossoms. Yunjiang gave me a round fan with plum blossoms in
black ink, and I wrote a ci poem about that. See
Donghai yuge ji. On the same day, Renlan wrote me a
poem in the seal characters and identified herself as "A
Woman from the Jade Mountain."

m, utiffiLijicTo544
These women were not only capable poets, but they had other artistic skills as well. Li
Renlan could write well in the seal-character style and Gu Taiqing was fond of
drawing.

The skills of poetry, painting and calligraphy made each of their gifts unique,

and this enhanced the artistic taste of their activities. The exchanges involved in this
process are much more complex than the poems from the excursion to Fayuan Temple.
First, one friend initiated the gathering of Gu Taiqing and others. The meeting of
Yunjiang, Taiqing, Shanzhi, Su'an and Renlan was an organized activity instead of an
accidental one. Second, the gathering was in constant remaking: the site chosen for the
meeting was a temple for appreciating peonies, and when the group arrived, it was
expanded by adding two more women. Third, the gift exchanges are much more
1

545

Gu, Tianyouge shiji, 1.50-51.

It is hard to find Gu Taiqing's drawings today, but a painting entitled "Gu Taiqing wen xing tu" ?H H;fe
still survives. See Zhang, Heji. Also see the records about this painting on p.761.

VH^C^HI

250

interactive. Gu Taiqing received two gifts from Renlan and Yunjiang: a poem written in
calligraphy by Renlan, and a painted fan by Yunjiang. Replying to Yunjiang's gift, Gu
Taiqing painted and wrote on another folded fan. Fourth, Renlan and Yunjiang shared
the same tour with Gu Taiqing for peony viewing. However, Gu's poem was not about
the peonies: "My trip is not for peonies, /.../ In the flower bushes, it's my luck to meet
the most beautiful women of the country"itt;fi: ^fiM^i-ftM, I...

HxM/H^MM^-

Instead of describing the peony at the temple, Gu Taiqing painted red plum blossoms to
match Yunjiang's black plum blossoms. This response confirms that the true center of
the poem is female friendship and artistic exchange instead of flowers. From a group
journey, the female community was expanded and artistic works were created in a more
and more complex pattern.

Traveling with Friends or Visiting Their Houses: the Refined and the
Unrestrained
For elite women, appreciating flowers and composing poetry were considered
refined activities. In the eighteenth-century novel Honglou meng (A dream of red
chamber/mansions, or the Story of the stone), there are detailed descriptions of poetry
club activities in the Daguan Yuan ^iSHS (Grand View Garden). Jia Tanchun H$E#,
the third daughter of the Jia family, suggested establishing a poetry club in the Garden.
People all thought it was a "refined" idea and Jia Baoyu M 1=E3 commented: "How highbrow Third Sister's become !''#J|=:H&fc$; Eft iSj ft! Li Wan ^ $ 1 volunteered to be the
head of the club: "How very refined! If you're going to start a poetry club, I'll volunteer
topreside"^$lt!}*7, i i H ^ i t :

" | ! ^ M # t t , & S I W S ; " and as Lin

251

Daiyu #H!3 suggested, all participants were granted a new style name to make the
activity of composing poems more elegant. The poetry club was named the Begonia
Club because the first activity these women engaged in was composing poems on
begonia flowers. One year later, when the women in the Grand View Garden and Baoyu
picked up the poetry club again, the club name was changed into the Peach Blossom Club
because the peach blossom was the assigned topic. Later the participants used
chrysanthemums as the poetic topic. Here, flowers were an important part of poetry
gatherings of this kind and they are tightly connected to women poets and their refined
style of life and poetry.546
In 1838, Gu Taiqing invited two female friends Xu Yunlin and Shen Xiangpei
(Shen Shanbao) to appreciate lotus flowers at Chiwu X3 Village in the southwest part
of modern Beijing; for this occasion, the friends composed a number of poems, five of
which were written by Gu Taiqing. Lotus-viewing was a special excursion for upperclass women on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month of each lunar year to celebrate
the birthday of lotus blossoms.547 In one of the poems, "Liu yue jiu ri yao Yunlin
Xiangpei Chiwuzhuang kan hehua zuozhong ci Xiangpei yun";r\^ % B J t l t # $ f M X
HM^^^&^^kMW^mM^.

(On the ninth day of the sixth month, I invited Yunlin

See chap. 37, "Begonia Club Takes Form One Day in the Studio of Autumn Freshness, Themes for
Poems on Chrysanthemums Are Prepared One Evening in Alpinia Park" ^KMMi^^'M^i,
WM^&^W.
1 8 $ : and chap. 38, "The Queen of Bamboos Wins First Place with Her Poems on Chrysanthemums, The
Lady of the Alpinia Writes a Satire upon Crabs"
ttsMM^HTEaf,
MWM^^MU-,
in Cao Xueqin
W i t Jr (ca. 1715-1763), Honglou meng &IHII. For the English translations, a popular version in the West
is David Hawkes, trans., The Story of the Stone: A Chinese Novel (New York: Penguin Books, 1977); see
vol. 2. However, for my purpose, I chose Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang, trans., A Dream of Red
Mansions, Vol. I (Peking: Foreign Languages Press, 1978), 533, 534.
547

Yuan, Suiyuan shihua, 7.14.

252

and Xiangpei to the Chiwu Village to view the lotuses. While sitting there, I wrote this
poem to follow Xiangpei's poem of a previous excursion," Gu Taiqing skillfully connects
flowers, female friends and poetry writing. Here I quote two of the four poems:
For another year, I saw these lotuses again,
By the pond, it is hard to describe the water immortal [lotus].
We sisters cherish flowers and sympathize with their beauty,
Yet the flowers do not do the same in return.

The beautiful spot in the south of the city is near Fengtai,

In order to see the lotuses, we came in the early morning.
The flowers are as beautiful as last year,
I only regret that I am not good at writing about them.

rtnmm&&, m&yfmnrtto548
Over one thousand li, I keep her on mind,
Looking back, I can vividly recall my journey.
Drinking up the green cup, I became drunk today,
As angled sun and chirping cicadas send off the beautiful
carriage.

mnRm^mm. mmmmmm*549
Drinking wine was also an indispensable part of such activities. In another poem,
Gu Taiqing wrote:
The narrow path leads to the Buddhist Temple,
548

"Tong Yunlin Xiangpei you Chiwu zhuang huai Renlan zuo"^19#MM,MRS.M1M&]Mi^

(Written
for remembering Renlan during the rrip to Chiwu Village with Yunlin and Xiangpei), in Gu, Tianyou ge
shiji, 5.102. Wei-Du originally referred to the two powerful families with the last names Wei and Du in the
Tang. Located in the southern part of the capital Chang'an, their estates attracted many visitors. Later the
term began to refer to a beautiful place in general. It so happens that the Chiwu Village was located in the
south of Beijing, the capital, and became a popular place for pleasure trips in the Ming and Qing.
Gu, Tianyouge shiji, 5.102. Bitong (the green cup) is a type of wine container made of lotus leaves.

253

My trip companions brought the wine.

Our strong friendship made me forget restraint,
A well-written poem demands much polish.

550

It is important to point out that the refined activities also accorded to confined
women an unrestrained spiritual release through poem-making, socializing, pleasure
seeking, and drinking. "Drinking up the green cup, I became drunk today" and "Our
strong friendship made me forget restraint." Such scenes echo the unrestrained style of
the great male poets, such as Li Bai and Du Fu as shown in Han Yu's poem: "Recently I
envy the unrestrained style of Li Bai and Du Fu, / who are wildly intoxicated with wine
M^k-^B^ICWt.551

and productive in writing" TS:^^MWM,

Indeed, the women's

gatherings and the shared interest in poetry did allow Gu Taiqing to let loose once in a
while, temporarily "forgetting" her identity as an aristocratic woman.
Later, she was invited by her friend Yu Jiying -zfe^M (1798-1856) to view
chrysanthemums:
On One Winter Day, Jiying Invited Me to Drink and Appreciate the
Chrysanthemums at the Studio of Green and Cleanness. On that Day, My Female
Friends Yunlin, Yunjiang, Xiangpei and Peiji Were Present. However, Afraid of
Being Locked out of the City Gate if Too Late, I Had to Return before Fully
Enjoying the Party. Upon Return, I Wrote This Poem to Match the Rhymes of
Xiangpei's Poem
"Furi tong Yunlin Xiangpei Chiwu Zhuang kan hehua guo Sanguan Miao jian guihua yi kai lengnuan
xiangcui qihou wuzhun xianglai beifang ci erzhong duo buneng tongshi zheng suowei shili hehua sanqiu
guizi zhe ye guilai fushi ji z h i " # 0 l ^ # * f t / i E f f i # f f i : f f i i = # J L & : f f i B H # f f i f f l < * ^ f f i $
I I * d b ^ r j J k - ^ ^ S i r a ^ f i E ^ f i i + M # ? E = = R f t T # i b J 9 * i t M i S E 2 . , inGu, Tianyougeshiji,
5.103.
551

Han , "Gan c h u n " ^ # , in Quan Tangshi, 338.3797.

254

I returned from an immortal's residence to the mundane,

There I stayed for a little with sisters around.
Since we can keep the flowers in a warm room,
Why will you build a hut in the deep mountain?
The fragrance of the chrysanthemums intended to inspire good lines,
The silver candle did not have a chance to reflect the drunk face.
I feel shamed that my poems are not as good as Shen Yue's,552
She [Shen Shanbao] easily composed a poem within seven steps.553

t&JSJ*tJ, n ^ ^ j f e ^ o

554

Although the ostensible purpose was flower-appreciation, really it was an invitation to a

poetry-writing party. Yu Jiying was the wife of the literatus Xu Qingshi Iftitfdr (fl. first
half of the 19th-c), and the studio referred to Xu's study room. Shen Shanbao recorded
this occasion:
Yu Jiying (Tingbi) from my hometown gathered Taiqing, Yunlin, Yunjiang,
Zhang Peiji and me to the mountain room named Green and Cleanness at her
house to appreciate chrysanthemums. The flowers set off one another, and people
were cheerful. Forgetting proper manners, we toasted constantly. I was the only
one who was not fond of drinking. Taiqing laughed and said, "Since you won't
drink a drop, it is unreasonable for you to look on unconcerned." Then she set up
the rhyme, the character shan of the term shanfang [mountain room] and asked
me to compose a heptasyllabic regulated poem.. ..when it came to dusk, Taiqing
was about to leave in her carriage in order to enter the city before the city gate
closed, and our friends urged me to do so for her. I then took up the brush to
write a poem.. ..after the poem was written, all the women appreciated it with
each other, and the next morning, all of them composed poems as a reply.
2

Shen Yue (441-513) was said to the first poet who deliberately used tonal rules in composing poetry.

553

"Seven steps" describes the brightness of a poet who could compose a good poem within a short period
of time. See the story of Cao Zhi who composed a poem within seven steps, in Liu Yiqing, "Wenxue" 3t=P,
Shishuo xinyu jiaojian, 134-35.
554

Gu, Tianyouge shiji, 5.123.

255

w , A I W - MBWLM, mm&m, tNM*#tfc. xm%^-. u:?

m^mmm, m&%U2M* m\h$zih^Mm,
^m-tw-M.
1
m&mm, xmmmmmm, M M * mxmix^m, &%mwmw
mj&, &tt&n. &JK. mmmtto555
According to Shen Shanbao's essay, the flower-appreciation gathering again turned into a
party of poetry writing and wine. In order to represent this unrestrained style, Gu Taiqing
compares her and her female companions to a group of care-free female transcendents of
the Jade Pond which is a common practice in her poems. In another poem written in the
summer, Gu Taiqing recorded a gathering organized by Xu Qingshi to appreciate the
dragon-foot scholar tree: "In the cool world, at the immortals' party, / We are allowed to
compose a new poem. That day, all the sisters [female friends] were present''^V/jitir.f?-?${li]1l",

nrt^?!#&fi-f|= MBWttftW&m.

556

As this example shows, the friends Gu Taiqing met at these gatherings sometimes
also included male literati, which indicates the relatively unrestrained practice of her life.
It was common for a courtesan to mingle with male literati outside the family, but not so
much for the elite women, especially someone with an aristocratic background like Gu
Taiqing. Part of the reason that she refused to join Chen Wenshu's group was her caution
about mingling with men. In the case above, Xu Qingshi, a relative of Gu Taiqing,
invited her to join a party where many other female friends were gathering. Although Gu
Taiqing and Xu Qingshi did not have any blood ties, his mother regarded Gu Taiqing as
her adopted daughter. This relationship made it easier for them to visit each other.
555

Shen Shanbao tfcflfW, Mingyuan shihua i$S.Wf5, 6.20a/b, inXuxiu Siku quanshujibu, 622.

556

"Qi yue liu ri Xu Qingshi san xiongdi zhao you Longzhao hui ji ci bishang yun yiwei shou"~fcj /N 0 Wf# H^ffiJtf!/]l&gp#:afimilf, in Gu, Tianyou ge shiji, 4.94.

256

Similarly, Gu Taiqing visited and exchanged poems with Yunlin Zhuren MM^. A
Aixinjueluo Zaiquan ^tWiftMMiM. (Aisin Gioro Zaiciowan, d. 1854), the son of Prince
Yishao ^&B. Gu Taiqing had other opportunities to exchange poems with poets because
her husband Yihui was fond of literature and invited many friends to his home. The
opportunity to socialize with other people enriched Gu's literary world. It was
inadequate in the inner quarters, yet her direct contact with contemporary male literati
could be problematic. Through Yihui, Gu Taiqing got to know the famous Qing male
poet Gong Zizhen ft 5^ (1792-1841), with whom she sometimes exchanged poems;
however, some thought that they had a love affair because of their poems.557 The
authenticity of the story remains a mystery, but it shows that it was risky for Gu Taiqing
to be seen as mingling with men outside the family in poetry exchanges because it easily
provoked people's imagination of romantic stories.
In the following poems, the refined and unrestrained styles of Gu are intensified:
On A Hot Day, after the Rain, I Visited Lady Fucha Ruixian (Hua'e), and She
Asked Me to Stay for some Wine. When I Returned the Night Was Already Deep,
and I Wrote This Poem to Thank Her
Although this was our first meeting, we were like old acquaintances,
Her unusual family tradition distinguishes her from the ordinary.
The books pile up on the desk and the boudoir is quiet,
Along the steps grow some flowers and trees: the little yard is peaceful.
The mist-covered ancient trees are as fresh as the dew,
Washed in the rain, the dark green of the moss seems to float.
The guest and the hostess forgot all restraint,
And dared to drink to their heart's content.

557

Meng Sen SM, "Dingxianghua anyu" T # ^ S I S , in Zhang, Heji, 767.

558

Gu Taiqing and Gong Zizhen became the main characters of a romantic story in the late Qing novel Nie
hai hua (#!#:, Zeng Pu mWi (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1979), chap. 3 and chap. 4.

257

Not afraid of the muddy road in the long summer days,

Ruixian invited a guest and they both drank wine.
Detached, you are the most elegant,
Neglecting the worldly wisdom, please forgive my wildness.
In great talk, the lady is aware of the military strategies, Because of the loss of
Dinghai County, that day we discussed the
current affairs.
The smart maid could understand literature. Ruixian asked her maid Yunzhu to recite
Bai Letian's poem to accompany our
drinking.

Sitting in my carriage, I returned late,

The fine dew touched my garment, making me feel slightly cool.

$ - , mmmmmtMo559
These two poems record Gu Taiqing's visit to her Manchu female friend Fucha Hua'
E W I P ^ ^ r (Fuca Huwao), with the style name Ruixian Hill]. Gu Taiqing appeared
very relaxed while socializing with the lady, even getting drunk at her hostess' home.
Their meeting was like a literati meeting in that the activity was accompanied by
enthusiastic wine-drinking, the discussion of current events and the maid reading Tang
poet Bai Juyi's poems to entertain the wine-drinker.
The difficult road conditionsthe muddy roadis a frequent image in Gu
Taiqing's poems on excursions. Instead of complaining about it, she always presents her
victory against the unfavorable road conditions, showing her fearlessness. In another
poem, she again writes: "Timely entertainment is rare, / and even if that means I have to

Gu, Tianyouge shiji, 5.119.

258

walk in mud, it does not matter"^.B##3J&MJ8Hf. W&WJhWlft.560

What is more

interesting is that this fearless attitude towards the difficult road is accompanied by her
explicit claim of being kuang (unrestrained): "Neglecting the worldly wisdom, please
forgive my wildness."561 "We, from the inner quarters, imitate elegant style and gather
together, / At this wonderful event, we can be unrestrained" M H ?I^Cl i t A

m ^

W S l * H . 5 6 2 The first kuang means being casual about personal manners in front of her
friends and the second kuang refers to talented women showing off their talent and
enjoying a relatively free life style. The four lines in the two poems focus on one theme:
ignoring social norms and indulging in the companionship of literary women. Both
poems contain a consistent pair being ya (refined) with being kuang (unrestrained). Gu
Taiqing plays a double role in maintaining an elite woman's restrained manner and a
poet's unrestrained enjoyment of unrestrained enthusiasm. From traveling on the muddy
road to the joint indulgence in literary pleasure, Gu Taiqing stepped out of the norms
twice in a row, spatially and intellectually.
In yet another poem, her kuang and "fearlessness" reach a climax:
I Went Over to Visit Shaoru, and While Sitting with Her, the Thunder and
Lightning Came at the Same Time, and the Rain and Hail Fell Violently.
Meanwhile I Heard that the Chaoyang Tower Was Destroyed by Lightning and

560

"Wuyue nianwu yuzhong Jingchunju Ruan Liu furen zhaotong Yunlin Renlan guo Tianning si kan
xinmai jixi z u o M 5 ^ - H - W t f J # ^ B c S ! l * A J B ^ I S # i a B i f l ^ * # # S f ^ B P f f l f ^ (On the twentyfifth day of the fifth month, in the rain, at the Residence of Quiet Spring, Lady Ruan Liu called me together
with Yunlin and Renlan to Tianning Temple to see the new wheat, and I composed this poem at that time
extemporaneously), in Gu, Tianyou ge shiji, 4.92. Lady Ruan Liu refers to Ruan Yuan's concubine.
561

"Furi yuhou fang Fucha Ruixian furen Hua'e liuyin guilai ye yi zhong yi fuci zhixie"^ 0 M ^ l S l a 3R
^ - f l l l ^ A ^ ^ S t ^ l i J f e ^ B ^ ^ K i t k S ! : ^ (On a hot day, after the rain, I visited Lady Fucha Ruixian's
(zi Hua'e) house where we drank together. Upon returning, the night was deep, and I wrote this poem to
thank her), Gu, Tianyouge shiji, 5.119.
562

"Wuyue nianwu," in Gu, Tianyouge shiji, 4.92.

259

Fire, and so I Went to Take a Look and Wrote This Poem to Record the Incident
afterwards on the Twentieth-second Day of the Fourth Month in 1842
To my surprise, I heard the old woman rush to report,
The news that the mysterious dragon had grabbed the treasure was
spreading.
The Chaoyang Gatetower was standing high,
On the tower hides a treasure for Heaven to take.
When I heard this news, I sighed in my heart,
I asked to return home without fearing the thick muddy road.
On the way, I looked up at the sky brightened by the fire,
The thick smoke and big fire soared to the sky.
The weather is imitating the Kunyang battle to help with our current battle,
To fight against the groups of clowns for our emperor. At the time, the army was in
battle in the east Zhejiang.

mm'Mnm^&MnmmmmmmmmmmmfimxFm&mmmM

mtmm^m^,

-M^^mmm* mmftujm&.">

Gu Taiqing was visiting her female relative Dong'e Shaoru S T P ^ ^ P (Donggo

Sooju)564 at the time, when suddenly a rainstorm interrupted the peaceful meeting.
Instead of avoiding the rain and thunder, Gu purposefully asked leave to observe the
storm closely. The spirit ofkuang explodes in the strong storms (violent natural
phenomena) and the flames of war (her concern of the war in the east Zhejiang far away
from Beijing). The unrestrained style and the natural and human powers that accompany
it are positive in this poem. The dangerous rainstorm suddenly becomes a positive factor
563

Gu, Tianyouge shiji, 5.139.

Dong'e Shaoru was the mother of Xiutang ?Pf, Gu Taiqing's daughter-in-law, wife of her fifth son.

260

to help the emperor beat his enemies. The Kunyang Battle was a well-known battle in
Chinese history. In 23 AD, the Kunyang battle took place in Kunyang (present-day Ye
I I County, Henan province) when the Han army led by Liu Xiu H'J^f1 (6BC-57AD) was
righting against the army of Wang Mang f E # (r. 8-23), the usurper to the throne.
Among the factors leading to Liu Xiu's victory in the battle was the weather: "It
happened to thunder heavily and the wind was strong. The tiles on the roof were flying,
and it was pouring.... Thousands of soldiers [of Wang Mang's army] were drowned and
the river was dammed up by the c o r p s e s " ! ^ MUL .%WM>

WT$n&> ....

M^

# t U ! f t> 7K^>^#rL565 In 1840, the Opium War between the Qing dynasty and the
British army broke out. In 1842, the two sides had many battles in the Zhejiang and
Jiangsu areas. Here Gu Taiqing refers to the battles in the eastern part of Zhejiang
against the British army. As a Manchu aristocrat, Gu Taiqing's interest in military affairs
also reflects her characteristic of kuang: crossing the gender boundaries to discuss
political affairs. Gu Taiqing was not alone in enjoying kuang, as some of her
contemporaries expressed themselves in a similar style. Perhaps the most well-known
example is Wu Zao, a famous Qing poet who married a merchant who did not share her
literary passion. Highly disappointed with this situation, especially her gender limitations,
Wu even cross-dressed as the famous male poet Qu Yuan to perform the style of kuang,
which, as she understood, could "make" her a man. In her play "Qiaoying" "Sjfjp (Fake
image) or "Yinjiu du Sao" tfcMtltlt (Drinking wine and reading the "Lisao"), she
created a female character whose name is Xie Xucai iltS^". This name was modeled on

565

"Guangwu di jV'Jt&ftfiZ, in Fan, Hou Han shu, 1.6.

261

the talented woman Xie Daoyun (fl. 4 -c.) and her well-known lines on willow floss at an
early age.566 In this play, Xie Xucai not only follows Qu Yuan's characteristic of being
unrestrained with messy hair and casual clothes, but also takes his journey along the river,
looking for others who can recognize her value. Although Gu Taiqing's desire for kuang
is not as radical as what Wu Zao presents in her cross-dressing creation of Xie Xucai, she
nevertheless reveals her challenge to gender limitations through her poems on excursions.
Furthermore, while Wu Zao borrows from the male tradition in history, Gu Taiqing relies
more on her own experience and awareness of current events. Namely, through the wider
space outside the inner quarters on her excursions and through recording her travels, she
projects her kuang, symbolizing her passion and promotion of a wider range of women's
social involvement and literary pleasure.
The shared style between Gu and Wu was not a coincidence. Gu Taiqing drew
inspiration from Wu Zao's writings, and expected to receive Wu's writings from a
distance despite Gu's own limited mobility. Gu Taiqing wrote to Wu Zao:
A beautiful woman is leaning against the slim bamboo,
When will the light boat arrive?
Sighing facing the empty valley,
There are too few understanding friends.
Only the orioles and flowers fit my mood,
Facing the beautiful mountains and lakes, I let out a long sigh.
May you send me,
Your recent manuscripts.

For details on Xie Daoyun, see Lily Xiao Hong Lee, "Xie Daoyun: The Style of a Woman Mingshi," in
Lee, The Virtue of Yin: Studies on Chinese Women (Australia: Wild Peony, 1994), 25-46, esp. 34-35. Also
see my notel83.

262

m^&,

i&$im567

In her poem included in Shen Shanbao's collection of song-lyrics, Gu Taiqing

also elucidates her interaction with Wu Zao and Shen Shanbao, another accomplished
poet whose life was filled with journeys, widely traveling through all parts of the
.

568

country.
You have left your footprints on your past journeys,
All over the country, you wander as you like.
At the Studio of Flowery Shades, there was a woman poet, referring to Ms. Wu
Pingxiang.

Happy to meet her by chance at my Tower of Heavenly Roaming.

nmmiKVMm,
569

Gu further commented on Shen's "wandering life" in the following lines: "The heroine
stands out of the crowd, / And she roams at ease south or north to the Yangzi River" rf] fl|
l i l t JlllrtfiL, tLWULitiiMM.

57

No doubt these women's experience of travelling near

and far greatly nourished their shared personal and literary style of unrestraint which was
further confirmed and strengthened through the communications of the traveling women
poets.
567

"Jinlii qu: Ti Hualianciji Wu Pingxiang n u s h i " ^ , f t : iWUM}

yuge, 1.206.

^ # & , Gu, Donghai

568

For Shen Shanbao's journeys, see Grace S. Fong, "Writing Self and Writing Lives: Shen Shanbao's
(1808-1862) Gendered Auto/biographical Practices," Nan Nil: Men, Women and Gender in Early and
Imperial China 2, no.2 (2000): 259-303.
569

Gu, "Yi cong hua: ti Xiangpei's Hongxuelou cixuan"STE: fjPftffl, iMJS^MM}

(To the melody
of 'One Flower Bush:'written on Xiangpei's The Collection of Song Lyrics from the Tower of Wild Goose
and the Snow), Donghai yuge, 4.244-45.
570

Zhang, Kuangdai cainti, 108.

263

Last but not least, to understand Gu Taiqing's poems on travel is to explore how
her travels enlarged her poetic space by turning her vision from the elegant inner quarters
to the wild fields in the countryside. Because she liked conducting various excursions to
the scenic spots, often in the suburbs, she had many opportunities to observe the
countryside. In the history of poems that record journeys, the ones that were about the
countryside were an important development. Famous poets such as Su Shi and Lu You in
the Song dynasty, for example, wrote a considerable amount of shi and ci poems on this
topic. 571 There are two notable characteristics in Gu Taiqing's poems on the countryside.
First, she points out her conscious observation of the scene. For example, she writes:
East Wind dwells on the new wheat,
At the Western Peak, rises the morning sun.
The moment it hits the scope of my vision, I see the new willow branches,
Keeping my eyes open, I try to recognize the remote villages.

mzmmw, 8'bmmtio572
The second characteristic is her conscious observation of peasant women, which
may be tightly related to the fact that she was a woman poet:
Voices urging the calf are heard outside the village houses,
The women who are washing the clothes seem to be in a picture.
It really turns out that the good rain knows the right season,
Everywhere the plowing and weeding predicts a harvest year.

' Li, Zhongguo gudai jiyou , 225, 234-35.

572
"Wang Xiangshan fang jia Xiaxianmei zuo"Q^r\ht}}^-Wii\l\$kfE (Written on the day when I visited my
younger sister Xiaxian at Fragrant Hill), in Gu, Tianyouge shiji, 5.100.
573

"Qingming yuhou wang Xiangshan shu suojian"$pf H | M ^ f t # l h # / j f JL (On the Tomb-sweeping

Festival, after the rain, I wrote about what I had seen on the way to Fragrant Hill), in Gu, Tianyouge shiji,
6.161.

264

The images of women are an integral part of the countryside landscape, and sometimes
Gu Taiqing herself was written into this picture with a peasant woman as a mirror image:
After the Snow, I Went to Haidian and Wrote What I Had Seen
Over the wall, a peasant woman is peeking at the passersby on the horses,
Under the tree, the plow ox is lying down in the pen.
For ten //, the woman traveler's footsteps raise the dirt on a path near the
capital.
In the magnificent crowns and carriages the ministers finished their
morning shift.

At the time this poem was written, the emperor was staying at Yuanming Yuan B B| US in
Haidian, and ministers had just finished their morning shift. The multi-level suburban
view depicts the spatial difference between inner and outer, the class difference between
peasants and aristocratic women and officials, and the leisure of the peasant and her ox
versus the hustle and bustle of the road in the distance. In such contrasts, the aristocratic
woman claims the privilege having the leisure for excursions and the status to travel on
the same road with high officials. The peasant woman over the wall can be viewed as the
mirror image of the upper-class woman in the inner quarters who were curious about the
wider world, making the effort to experience the motion. On the one hand, Gu's poems
on the countryside reflect her curiosity about the less refined country landscape; yet on
the one hand, there is a tendency of distinguishing herself from the lower-class women by

574

"Xuehou wang Haidian shu suojian"S^ftv$^D*0fM. (After the snow, I wrote what I had seen on the
way to Haidian," in Gu, Tianyouge shiji, 6.150.

265

showing her privilege of traveling with the upper-class. However, the mirror image
between the upper-class woman traveler and the shy peasant woman who peeks at the
outside world reveals another layer of meaning: Gu's occasional privilege of traveling
versus her fundamental secondary gender role of being a woman.

266

Conclusion
In her article "Canon Formation in Late Imperial China," Pauline Yu points out
that poetry continued to flourish in the late imperial period, as did the many cultural
activities associated with poetry writing.575 The productivity and multifarious cultural
activities that women poets were involved in during this period marked an unprecedented
flourishing of women's active literary creation with more than three thousand writers and
more than two thousand collections.
In this dissertation, I have focused on late imperial women's poetry on travel and
contextualized their production in the broader perspective of Chinese literary tradition.
For men, travel was an indispensible component of their life, and their poetry was often
greatly enriched and inspired by their travel experiences. For women, however, travel
represented a forbidden zone to be avoided or approached with extreme caution. Yet
such social warnings did not quench their curiosity, and travel was indeed a prominent
theme in women's poetry of late imperial China. With their poems on realistic or
symbolic travel, the women crossed various physical and social boundaries. In the case
of elite women, the act of border-crossing was even more significant since this group of
women was advised to stay inside their boudoir to maintain their domestic virtue; yet
they happened to be the major participants of poetry writing.
In focusing on travel and women's writing, the two social and cultural highlights
of late imperial China, I hope to have shown the extent to which women's travels

575

Pauline Yu, "Canon Formation in Late Imperial China," in Culture and State in Chinese History:
Conventions, Accommodations, and Critiques, ed.Theodore Huters et al. (Stanford: Stanford University
Press, 1997).

267

(whether imagined or real) and its representations served to destabilize the seemingly
clear-cut boundary between the inner and the outer in the pre-modern Chinese context. I
also hope to have further contributed to the problematization of the still-persistent
stereotype of pre-modern Chinese women immobilized by bound feet and a complete
lack of personal agency. My study of women's poetry on travel has not only aimed to
introduce new texts that I hope will shed some light and encourage further research in the
field, but more importantly, to demonstrate the constant negotiations between social
norms and women's growing literary, gender and social consciousness in response to new
social and cultural phenomena, including their increased mobility and literary cultivation
and exchanges.
Travel plays a double role as a bridge between women and literary traditions and
as a challenge to traditional expectations that women should remain within the inner
chambers. As a bridge, travel or the desire for travel has opened a window for modern
readers to understand the influences of social transformations on women's literary world.
As a challenge, travel, especially the idea of traveling, broke open the cloistered inner
quarters and expanded women's physical, intellectual and spiritual worlds, allowing them
to critically view the male tradition while being part of it.
The women poets analyzed in this study wrote about both actual journeys taken or
imagined journeys through recumbent travel or the poetic construction of roaming as a
transcendent. Women who did travel in the real world wrote about a variety of journeys,
including those for domestic duties and personal fulfillment, demonstrating that women
not only travelled, but also acquired and expressed an extensive range of knowledge,
whether geographic, social or intellectual. Focusing on the late imperial poets does not

268

mean denying the existence of travel experience and travel poems of women during
previous dynasties. As I have shown, women of the earlier periods did sporadically write
about travel. Comparatively speaking however, late imperial women poets do stand out
in terms of both numbers and literary productivity, and their representations of travel
portray a rich picture of journeys: painful or pleasant, involuntary or voluntary, short or
long, in small or big groups, concerning individual self, family, friend or even the country.
The most common physical travel was excursions rather than long journeys which were
more adventurous. Such excursions emphasize the pleasure of women rather than painful
social chaos. For instance, in the case of eminent Manchu woman poet Gu Taiqing,
religious and cultural excursions accompanied her whole life. Although mainly known
for her song-lyrics, her shi poems in the Poetry Collection from the Tower of Heavenly
Roaming also provide a rich source in exploring her life and writings, of which travel
poems occupy a major part. The temple was a significant destination for Gu Taiqing's
excursions that was tightly connected to her religious and cultural activities. One of the
major purposes of traveling to the temples was to appreciate flowers, which promoted the
development of intellectual connections between elite women. The cultural gatherings at
friends' homes also legitimately increased Gu's social mobility. These journeys enlarged
Gu Taiqing's originally limited space in the inner quarters and the Haidian area and
nourished her literary style where the refined and the unrestrained coexisted. Her poems
on traveling portray the life of an intellectually curious Manchu aristocratic woman poet,
and by extension, the anxiety and desire many women had in negotiating their gender,
religious, social and intellectual spaces.

269

Both the lyrical and narrative elements, but mainly the lyrical, are prevalent in
these poems, giving readers a sense of history and an even stronger self-expression. Even
the poems on actual journeys inevitably involve the process of imagination. The
imagination links and often creates a contrast between the past and the present, the dead
and the living, the masculine and the feminine, the ideal and the reality, the secular and
the religious, the individual and the community, the personal and the national, tradition
and invention. One cannot stress enough the critical role of imagination in women's
poetry on travel. For men, the imagined journey was an option if they were unable to
travel due to illness or old age. Purely imaginative travel, however, was often the only
choice available to women. It is precisely through these frequent mind journeys that
women linked themselves more tightly to the poetic traditions that inspired the great
number of poems composed based on an imagined landscape from paintings and written
texts. As we have seen, recumbent travel provided a special imaginary space for women
who made use of this practice to broaden their mental horizons and to deepen their
emotional and intellectual connections with family and friends. In so doing, the small,
often claustrophobic space of the inner quarters was enlarged and extended out into the
wider world. At the same time, however, women strongly felt the limitations of
recumbent travel, which could never entirely substitute for the excitement of an actual
journey and the wide-ranging poetic inspiration such a journey might bring. Therefore,
late imperial women poets both appropriated and challenged the notion of recumbent
travel. In so doing, they used both their poetry and their poetic imaginations to test the
limits of the gender boundaries that constrained them.

270

The poetic genre "roaming as a transcendent" allowed women to extend mind

travel even further, in the search for an alternative life in a world beyond the mundane.
Inspired by Cao Tang's "Xiao youxian," Qing women poets even went so far as to create
a new poetic subgenre, "Nil youxian"or "Roaming as a Female Transcendent." Poems in
this subgenre were usually in the form of heptasyllapic quatrains, and were composed in
(not always related) series. Luo Qilan wrote twenty such poems, Gu Taiqing and Ling
Zhiyuan wrote eight and four respectively, and Gao Fengge may have written as many as
one hundred, although only forty have survived. All of these nil youxian poems depict
women either attaining immortality or enjoying the relatively carefree life of an immortal.
More often than not, they also describe women making use of their skills and
intelligencewhether on the spur of the moment like Chang'e obtaining the elixir of
immortality, or through extended religious cultivationto achieve a life of freedom. I
would suggest that by making use of these images of female transcendents, women poets
like Luo Qilan and others were reflecting the efforts that they and other women poets
were making to transcend the boundaries of the inner quarters by means of either their
own religious practices or by their literary talentsand sometimes, by a combination of
both. As Cao Pi (187-226) noted long ago, the preservation and transmission of written
works were for the literati the primary assurance of immortality.
.. .literary works (wenzhang) are the supreme achievement in the business of state,
a splendor that does not decay. A time will come when a person's life ends; glory
and pleasure go no further than this body. To carry both to eternity, there is
nothing to compare with the unending permanence of the literary work. So
writers of ancient times entrusted their persons to ink and the brush, and let their
thoughts be seen in their compositions; depending neither on a good historian nor
on momentum from a powerful patron, their reputations were handed down to
posterity on their force.

271

zft%, ^M^mm, &mmmm,

^&$.z, *
576
zZMMZm, M S g # ^ ^ o

Writing women of late imperial China confronted an interesting paradox when

attempting to achieve their own literary immortality. On the one hand, their ability to
compose poetry gave them a strong posthumous reputation through the publication of
their poems; on the other hand, they had to use their domestic virtue to legitimize such a
literary immortality. Nil youxian poems were important because they allowed women to
enjoy, if only vicariously, the pleasures of an immortality defined and poeticized by
women themselves, an immortality that was not necessarily tied to domestic virtue. Luo
Qilan, for example, idealizes women's leadership and raises the possibility of
demonstrating it on earth; Gu Taiqing and Ling Zhiyuan emphasize the possibility and
importance of becoming immortal through women's self-cultivation; Gao Fengge
elaborates on the playfulness of immortals as a counterweight to the sometimes
overwhelming challenges of real life, thus hoping to free the female literary soul by
linking it with spiritual freedom. The minds of these women traveled beyond the
boundaries of the inner quarters and roamed freely with female transcendents up in
Heaven, where women's journeys were not only possible, but also pleasurable and
productive.
These "journeys" of women also helped create a new collective literary
consciousness. Traveling/migrating between places shaped the "talent exporting and
importing" system through which male literati could gain elite status or construct a new
self-identity in various ways, including through gathering at organized institutions such

576

Cao Pi, "A Discourse on Literature," in Owen, Readings in Chinese Literary Thought, 68-69.

272

as the Sea of Learning in the nineteenth-century Guangzhou.

Women's journeys were

not a necessary part of their lives or careers, but usually were made possible because of
"having to" fulfill a domestic duty, such as accompanying their husbands to a new
posting, or escorting the body of a deceased husband home for burial. The
institutionalized approach of "status-granting and identity-constructing" among male
literati also occasionally took place through women's traveling for formal and informal
poetry clubs or other forms of literary gatherings among relatives or friends. These
activities mainly involved females, signifying the rise of networks of women writers in
late imperial China.
It is important to stress that actual physical travel and imagined journeys were
equally accessible to male literati, yet for women, the latter often necessarily preceded
the former. This order reveals the limitation of women's mobility in that women often
did not have a choice in whether they travelled, and mobility was discouraged in contrast
to the encouragement of men's travels. The arrangement of the chapters in my
dissertation also reflects this order, and points to the sometimes ambivalent relationship
between women and travel in pre-modern China. The first chapter introduced the three
types of travels for men: the actual journeys taken, recumbent travel and roaming as a
transcendent. The second chapter was a survey of women's travels to show the
multiplicity of their movement. The third, fourth and fifth chapters focused on one
traditional concept, one poetic genre and one particular poet respectively, aiming at
exploring women's literary representations of travel from various perspectives. The

Steven B. Miles, The Sea of Learning: Mobility and Identity in Nineteenth-Century Guangzhou
(Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press, 2006), 277-79.

273

contents of these three chapters move from the most accessible form of travel (mind
travel) to the most common physical movementexcursions among women.
While women adopted the male tradition of travel writing, they also sought to
establish a distinguishable female element in their poems. Typical examples can be found
in the constant and self-conscious comparisons they made in their poetry between the
narrow boudoir and the wider world, and the even more explicit complaint that as women,
they were not able to easily enrich their experience of the outside world through travel.
The deliberate addition of the character nil (female) to the traditional poetry title
"Roaming as a Transcendent" signifies a clear gender consciousness. New female
images that carry both mundane and transcendental significance became the subjects of
the poetry while the women poets themselves emerged as writing subjects, becoming
increasingly prominent in late imperial society. Indeed, women played an indispensible
role in this new social transformation. When traveling became increasingly possible and
popular, the taboo on mobility for women began to be increasingly questioned, especially
by women themselves.

274

Bibliography
Bai Juyi |=]jifi. "Yu Yuanjiu shu" ^ytfiW-

InBai Juyishiwenxuanzhu

S^jJIttJt

Mti, compiled and annotated by Gong Kechang JUJTL H and Peng Chongguang
SilDfc, 168-91. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1984.
Ban Gu 3ftHO. Qian Honshu ttjWLW- In Wenyuangesiku quanshu, shibu.
Ban Youshu lB-1xM- Zhongguo niixingshige cuibian ^ I S ^ C t t l ^ i ^ f f IS- Beijing:
Zhongguo wenlian chuban gongsi, 1996.
Bao Zhenpei HS/st^. "Zhenshi yu xiangxiangZhongguo gudai yizhuang wenhua de
shanbian yu wenxue biaoxian"

MM^M^^M^iXB^Xil^M^M^X^

MM. Nankaixuebao (zhexue shehuikexue ban) SHIl^flx (15^?lt'f4#li&) 2

(2001): 68-80.
Bao Zhilan M3lM. Qiyunge shichao $Sft H l t # - In Jingjiang Baoshi san niishi
shichao hechao j R f f i S & K H & i i ^ ' g - l D j , comp. Dai Xieyuan 7 L . 1882.
http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/mingqing/english/.
Birrell, Anne M. "The Dusty Mirror: Courtly Portraits of Woman in Southern Dynasties
Love Poetry." In Expressions of Self in Chinese Literature, ed. Robert E. Hegel
and Richard C. Hessney, 33-69. New York: Columbia University Press, 1985.
Bol, Peter. "The Culture of Ours:" Intellectual Transitions in T'ang and Sung China.
Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1992.
Borm, Jan. "Defining Travel: On the Travel Book, Travel Writing and Terminology." In
Youngs and Hooper, Perspectives on Travel Writing, 13-26.

275

Brook, Timothy. The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998.
Bush, Susan. "Tsung Ping's Essay on Painting Landscape and the 'Landscape Buddhism'
of Mount Lu." In Theories of the Arts in China, ed. Susan Bush and Christian
Murck, 132-64. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1983.
Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York and
London: Routledge, 1990.
Cahill, Suzanne E. Transcendence and Divine Passion: the Queen Mother of the West in
Medieval China. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1993.
, trans, and ed. Divine Traces of the Daoist Sisterhood: Records of the Assembled
Transcendents of the Fortified Walled City, Du Guangting (850-933). Magdalena:
Three Pines Press, 2006.
Cai Dianqi H J ^ ^ . Guochao guige shichao MM H Kjt$. 1844. http://digital.library
.mcgill.ca/mingqing/english/.
Campany, Robert Ford. To Live as Long as Heaven and Earth: A Translation and Study
ofGe Hong's Traditions of Divine Transcendents. Berkeley: University of
California Press, 2002.
Chan, Ping-leung. "Ch'u Tz'u and Shamanism in Ancient China." Ph.D. diss., Ohio State
University, 1972.
Chang, Kang-i Sun. "Guafu shiren de wenxue 'shengyin'"

^MWA$)X^"M

W. In Gudianyu xiandai de niixing chanshi ^ ^^$iiX$]il$MM

[Feminist

readings: classical and modern perspectives], 85-109. Taibei: Lianhe wenxue,

1998.

276

. The Late-Ming Poet Ch 'en Tzu-lung: Crises of Love and Loyalism. New Haven
and London: Yale University Press, 1991.
. "Ming and Qing Anthologies of Women's Poetry and Their Selection
Strategies." In Widmer and Chang, Writing Women in Late Imperial China, 14770.
. "Ming-Qing Women Poets and Cultural Androgyny." Tamkang
Review: A Quarterly of Comparative Studies of China and Foreign Literatures
xxx, no.2 (1999): 11-25.
. Six Dynasties Poetry. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986.
. "Modai cainu de 'luanli' shi" %fttit&luWM"M.

In Zhang and Zhang, Gudai

nushiren yanjiu, 224-45. Wuhan: Hubei jiaoyu chubanshe, 2002.

, and Haun Saussy. Women Writers of Traditional China: An Anthology of Poetry
and Criticism. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999.
Chen Enhu WM.fii. "Keshujia Wang Qi shengping kao" ^ J S ^ f f i ^ ^ Y S C . Wenxian
JCB. 3 (2005): 84-91.
Chen Hanhui WMW- "Xu Xiake xiansheng muzhiming" & | g 5 f c ^ i # 8 . In Xu, Xu
Xiake youji, 1192-93.
Chen Hongshou Wc$kM. "Ji wai shi yin" ft^hlf^ I. In Fanxieshanfang quanji. Vol. 2.
Chen Jia WM- Xieyunlou ci l | aH^nf. In Xu, Xiaotanluan shi huike baijia guixiuci.
Chen Qingyuan M.M7K. San Cao shi xuanping H l f t t i U f T . Shanghai: Shanghai guji
chubanshe, 2002.
Chen Weisong $ t $ ^ . Furenji M\M-

rn Congshu jicheng chubian i t l S f f t ^ ^ l l i , ed.

277

Wang Yunwu 3 E H 2 L . Taibei: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1936.

Chen Wenhua S t ^ t ^ . Meng wei hudieye xunhuaLi Ye, Xue Tao, Yu Xuanji shi
zhuping&Wffl&&Wfc-^fa-

WB^

& " H t t a l . Shanghai: Shanghai

guji chubanshe, 2007.

Chen Yunji M-ft'pf "Lun Tangdai simiao bihua dui Han Yu shige de yingxiang" fraJjtf^
^m^MfmMMW^mmW.

Fudanxuebao (shekeban) t t H.^$g ( t t #

Ii6)l(1983): 72-80.
Chen Yunlian BfeSjlI. Xinfangge shicao f l ^ M I ^ ^ . 1859.
http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/mingqing/english/.
Cheng Minzheng ^WiWi. Huangdun wenji W.M3CM. In Wenyuange Siku quanshu, bieji.
Cheng Qianfan S P F f l . "Guo Jingchun Cao Yaobin 'Youxian shi' bianyi"|pjP;M^
% i l # U Iff PL In Gushikaosuo^W&%,

Cheng Qianfan

fF^

quanjiW^%

^M- Vol.8, 422-23. Shijiazhuang: Hebei jiaoyu chubanshe, 2001.

Chi Han ftfe^. "Running Gong de xingzhi biange ji yingxiang"*f^^J?^f ^M^-RW%. Dongnan chuanbo ^ l ^ # # 8 (2006): 75-76.
Clunas, Craig. Superfluous Things: Material Culture and Social Status in Early Modern
China. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2004.
Davis, A. R. "The Double Ninth Festival in Chinese Poetry: A Study of Variations upon a
Theme." In Wen-lin: Studies in the Chinese Humanities, ed. Chow Tse-tsung, 4564. Madison and London: University of Wisconsin Press, 1968.
. T'ao Yiian-ming (AD 365-427): His Works and Their Meaning. London:
Cambridge University Press, 1983.

278

Ding Changyun T ^ l t . "Shilun daojiao jielii jianshe de fazhan guocheng"^f^iS#Ji

# S t $ W M S @ . Zhongguo daojiao 4" 19 i t i f 6 (2004): 8-13.
Ding Pei THL. Xiupu idlsff. hi Congshu jicheng xubian i K I t f t / S H i l i . Vol. 79, 796803. Shanghai: Shanghai shudian, 1994.
Ding Yan T H , comp. Caoji quanping W f t t M f . Taibei: Guangwen shuju, 1961.
Dong Qichang H ^ H. "Ming gu Xu Yu'an yinjun ji pei Wang Ruren hezang
muzhiming"Bja^B/tffiME3EilA'^PBI^.

In Xu, Xu Xiakeyouji,

1253-55. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1987.

Dott, Brian R. "Pilgrimage as Popular Agency: Women and Men Seeking Children
and Heirs." In Pilgrimages to Mount Tai in Late Imperial China, Dott, chap. 1,
105-49. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Asia Center, 2004.
Du Haijun fc#|ljl. "Siku quanshu cunmu congshu shoulu Woyou lu wenti shangque" H
^ ^ r ^ ^ 1=1 M I ^ ^ B h i S ^ f ^ fSltJJtS. Guangxi shifan daxue xuebao (zhexue
shehui kexue ban)Jff S W I S X ^ ^ ( l g ^ ^ W t f c )
Du Guangting. "Daode zhenjing guangshengyi"MW:%MJMMil,.

43.3 (2007):74-75.
In Daozang MM-

Repr. Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1988.

Dudbridge, Glen. "Women Pilgrims to T'ai Shan: Some Pages from a SeventeenthCentury Novel." In Pilgrims and Sacred Sites in China, ed. Susan Naquin and
Chunfang Yu, 39-64. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992.
Egan, Ronald C. "Poems on Paintings: Su Shih and Huang T'ing-chien." Harvard
Journal of Asiatic Studies 43, no. 2 (1983): 413-51.
Eley, Geoff. "Nations, Publics, and Political Cultures: Placing Habermas in the

279

Nineteenth Century." In Culture/Power/History: A Reader in Contemporary

Social Theory, ed. Nicholas B. Dirks et al., 297-335. Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1994.
Elliott, Mark C. The Manchu Way: The Eight Banners and Ethnic Identity in Late
Imperial China. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001.
. "Manchu Widows and Ethnicity in Qing China." Comparative Studies in Society
and History 41, no. 1 (1999): 33-71.
Elman, Benjamin A. A Cultural History of Civil Examination in Late Imperial China.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000.
Er shi si shi + 0 j. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2000.
Esposito, Monica. "Daoism in the Qing (1644-1911)." In Daoism Handbook, ed. Livia
Kohn, 623-58. Leiden: Brill, 2000.
Fan Chengda 'fiijjfck. Shihujushi shiji ^M^~i:WM-

In Fan Shihuji $@5$H.

Shanghai: Zhonghua shuju, 1962.

. Wuchuan lu ^ijtSili*. Wenyuange siku quanshu, shibu jfeffP.
FanYelaBi. HouHanshu'&MM-

In Ershisi shi ~ + H .

Fayuansi "feM^F- Ed. Zhongguo fojiao tushu wenwuguan ^ f f l t t t ^ H ] * ^ ^ ) ^ . Beijing:

Beijing Fayuansi liutongchu, 1981.
Fei Zhengang ItJiPII, et al., comps. Shijing leizhuan I^M^'ff. Changchun: Jilin renmin
chubanshe, 2000.
Feng Er'kang "MMM- Qingren shenghuo manbu Vft A:itfyj|^. Beijing: Zhongguo
shehui chubanshe, 1999.
, and Chang Jianhua ^ I t - Qingren shehui shenghuo ^ A - f i l l " ^ ^ . Shenyang:
280

Shenyang chubanshe, 2002.

Feng Naikang MJbM., ed. Gudai liiyou wenxue zuopin xuandu ~^i iXMM^C^W

mMM.-

2 nd ed. Beijing: Liiyou jiaoyu chubanshe, 2002.

Fong, Grace S. "Alternative Modernities, Or a Classical Woman of Modern China: The
Challenging Trajectory of Lii Bicheng's (1883-1943) Life and Song Lyrics." Nan
Nil: Men, Women and Gender in Early and Imperial China 6, no.l (2004): 12-59.
. "Embroidery as a Knowledge Field in Women's Everyday Life in Late Imperial
and Early Republican China." Late Imperial China 25, no.l (2004): 1-58.
. Herself an Author: Gender, Agency, and Writing in Late Imperial China.
Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2008.
. "Signifying Bodies: The Cultural Significance of Suicide Writings by Women in
Ming-Qing China." Nan Nil: Men, Women and Gender in Early and Imperial
China 3, no.l (2001): 105-42.
. "Writing Self and Writing Lives: Shen Shanbao's (1808-1862) Gendered
Auto/biographical Practices." Nan Nu: Men, Women and Gender in Early and
Imperial China 2, no.2 (2000): 259-303.
Foon, Kwong Hing. WangZhaojun: Une heroine chinoise de I'histoire a la legend. Paris:
College de France, Institut des Hautes Etudes Chinoises, 1986.
Forke, Alfred, trans, and annotator. Lun-heng. Parti. Philosophical Essays of Wang
Ch 'ung. 2 nd ed. New York: Paragon Book Gallery, 1962.
Frankel, Hans H. "Cai Yan and the Poems Attributed to Her." Chinese Literature: Essays,
Articles, Reviews (CLEAR) no.5, 1/2 (1983): 133-56.
Fraser, Nancy. "What's Critical about Critical Theory? The Case of Habermas and

281

Gender." In Feminism as Critique on the Politics of Gender, ed. Seyla Benhabib

and Drucilla Cornell, 31-56. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1987.
Freud, Simund. "Creative Writers and Daydreaming." In The Critical Tradition: Classic
Texts and Contemporary Trends. 2 nd ed. Ed. David H. Richter, 483-88. Boston:
Bedford Books, 1998.
Frodsham, J. D., trans, and annotator, with the collaboration of Ch'eng Hsi. An
Anthology of Chinese Verse: Han Wei Chin and the Northern and Southern
Dynasties. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1967.
Frodsham, J. D. The Murmuring Stream: The Life and Works of the Chinese Nature Poet
Hsieh Ling-yun itffijE (385-433), Duke ofK'ang-Lo. Vol.1. Kuala Lumpur:
University of Malaya Press, 1967.
Fu Lianzhong ff 5 S # . "Kunning Gong ji shen ji tian" i ^ ^ H t t l ^ .

Zijin cheng jg

Sti$ 2 (2002): 4-12.

Fussell, Paul, ed. The Norton Book of Travel. New York and London: W.W. Norton &
Company, 1987.
Gan Lirou Vf^-M.- Yongxuelou gao WSWtWi- 1843.
http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/mingqing/english/.
Gao Fengge ]tj MiH, Yi qin yi he xuan shicao ^H^fgrf^. Early 19th century.
Gao You MM, annotator. "Laiming xun" ^ ^ | ) l | . In Huainan zi zhu $S~Pf:. Taibei:
Shijie shuju, 1962.
Gardner, Daniel K. trans., with introduction and commentary. The Four Books: The Basic
Teachings of the Later Confucian Tradition. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing
Company, Inc., 2007.

282

Ge Hong M$<- Shenxian zhuan ?iMlil'PS. In Liexianzhuan jinyi, Shenxianzhuan jinyi M

# 4 * 1 1 , # / fll|'ft4*t?, annotated by Qiu Heting fiPH^. Beijing: Zhongguo
shehui kexue chubanshe, 1996.
Ge Xiaoyin HSiilr. "Shiwen zhi bian he yi wen wei shijian xi Han Yu, Bai Juyi, Su
Shidesanshoujiyoushi"!#;;f^n^jf#ftflfH^
H"i"IEMI#. In Han Tang wenxue de shanbian M^JC^ffiMWt,

SJf^

SMftftl

305-14. Beijing:

Beijing daxue chubanshe, 1990.

Goossaert, Vincent. "Irrepressible Female Piety: Late Imperial Bans on Women Visiting
Temples." Nan Nil: Men, Women and Gender in China 10, no. 2 (2008): 212-41.
Grant, Beata. "Chan Friends: Poetic Exchanges between Gentry Women and Buddhist
Nuns in Seventeenth-Century China." Unpublished MS, forthcoming.
. Daughters of Emptiness: Poetry of Buddhist Nuns of China. Boston: Wisdom
Publications, 2003.
. Eminent Nuns: Women Chan Masters of Seventeenth-Century China. Honolulu:
University of Hawai'i Press, 2009.
. "Female Holder of the Lineage: Linji Chan Master Zhiyuan Xinggang (15971654)." Late Imperial China 17, no.2 (1996): 51-76.
. "The Red Cord United: Buddhist Nuns in Eighteenth-century China." In
Buddhist Women across Cultures: Realizations, ed. Karma Lekshe Tsomo, 91104. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1999.
Guo Moruo $M%.

"Tan Cai Wenji de 'Hujia shibapai'" ^ H ^ C M M n + A f t .

Repr. In Zhang and Zhang, Gudai niishiren yanjiu, 263-73.

Guo Shaotang $$4>'M. Liixing: kua wenhua xiangxiang Wiff: Sf 3ttt.3Ht Beijing:

283

Beijing daxue chubanshe, 2005.

Guo Zhen $$1|. Manyun ntizi buyingxiongQiu Jin shici zhuping M S ^ C ^ ^ ^ ^ I
t ^ J S I ^ M I i l f Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2004.
Habermas, Jiirgen. The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a
Category of Bourgeois Society. Trans. Thomas Burger with the assistance of
Frederick Lawrence. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1989.
Hamilton, Robyn. "The Pursuit of Fame: Luo Qilan (1755-1813) and the Debates about
Women and Talent in Eighteenth-century Jiangnan." Late Imperial China 18,
no.l (1997): 39-71.
Han Ying f $ 5 . Han shi wai zhuan $$W&hW In Wenyuange siku quanshujingbu

MlfP,

shilei INf^i.
Hargett, James M. On the Road in Twelfth Century China: The Travel Diaries of Fan
Chengda (1126-1193). Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden Gmbh, 1989.
. Riding the River Home: A Complete and Annotated Translation of Fan
Chengda's (1120-1193) Diary of a Boat Trip to Wu (Wuchuan lu). Hong Kong:
Chinese University Press, 2008.
Hawkes, David. Ch 'u Tz'u (The Songs of the South): An Ancient Chinese Anthology.
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1959.
. "Hsi P 'ei-lan," Asia Major, n.s., 7 (1959): 113-21.
. "The Quest of the Goddess." Asia Major, n.s., 13 (1967):71-94.
, trans. The Story of the Stone: A Chinese Novel. Vol. 2. New York: Penguin
Books, 1977.
He Changling jt-RSt, comp. Huangchao jingshi wenbian M U M t t t J t H . Repr. Taibei:

284

Shijieshuju, 1964.
Hegel, Robert E. "The Sights and Sounds of Red Cliffs: On Reading Su Shi." Chinese
Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews (CLEAR) 20 (1998): 11-30.
Hou Changxu ffc#tH, comp. Sanxia shici daguan H l ^ | # M ^ l i . Chongqing:
Chongqing chubanshe, 2006.
Hu Wenkai $J3t#t. Lidaifunu zhuzuo kao MiXM^C^fE^f-

Shanghai: Shanghai guji

chubanshe, 1985.
Hu Ying. "Re-configuring Nei/Wai: Writing the Woman Traveler in the Late Qing." Late
Imperial China 18, no.l (1997): 72-99.
Hua Wei l p 5 | . Ming Qingfunu zhi xiqu chuangzuo yu piping BjJVs#S:c5LjR ft lllf^l^lftb
IFF. Taibei: Zhongyang yanjiuyuan Zhongguo wenzhe yanjiusuo, 2003.
Huang Jing MW.- Zhuangyou tuji #32HSHB. Shanghai: Dian shi zhai, 1896.
Huang, Martin W. "Male Friendship and Jiangxue (Philosophical Debates) in SixteenthCentury China." Nan Nil: Men, Women and Gender in China 9, no. 1(2007): 14678.
. "Male Friendship in Ming China: An Introduction." Nan Nil: Men, Women
and Gender in China 9, no. 1(2007): 2-33.
Huang Qiaole. "Writing from within a Women's Community: Gu Taiqing (1799-1977)
and Her Poetry." Ph.D. diss., McGill University, 2004.
Hucker, Charles O. A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China. Stanford: Stanford
University Press, 1985.
Hung, William. Tu Fu: China's Greatest Poet. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press, 1952.

285

Idema,Wilt L. "The Pilgrimage to Taishan in the Dramatic Literature of the Thirteenth

and Fourteenth Centuries." Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews (CLEAR)
19 (1997): 23-57.
, and Lloyd Haft. A Guide to Chinese Literature. Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese
Studies, University of Michigan, 1997.
, and Beata Grant. The Red Brush: Writing Women of Imperial China. Cambridge
and London: Harvard University Asia Center, 2004.
Ji Yougong|tW?t(. Tangshi jishi MWS$LM-.

Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1965.

Jiang Kang MM- "Hu Qiu, Guanwa Gong" J^-t|^. In Wenshi zhishi 3tinHI$5
(1986): 116.
Jiang Qingbai CtjUtt, comp. Qingdai renwu shengzu nianbiao V i t f ^ A ^ ^ i ^ ^ ^ .
Beijing: Remin wenxue chubanshe, 2005.
Jiang Yin M'M- "Yidai cainii Wang Duan" f ^ i c H : ^ . Wenshi zhishi i f c i ^ M ! 9
(2000): 78.
Jin Qicong ^ ^ B j ? . Gu Taiqingyu Haidian Hyfc^lt^liif. Beijing: Beijing chubanshe,
2000.
JingjiDongxuan f? nFJSft" (Qing dyn.), comp. Mingyuan chidu ^itS.KM- http://digital
.library.mcgill.ca/mingqing/english/.
Kelly, Jeanne, trans. "The Poetess Yii Hsuan-chi." In Traditional Chinese Stories:
Themes and Variations, ed. Y. W. Ma and Joseph S. M. Lau, 305-06. Boston:
Cheng and Tsui Company, 1996.

286

Rnechtges, David R., trans. Wenxuan or Selections of Refined Literature. 3 vols.

Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987, 1996.
Ko, Dorothy. Cinderella's Sisters: A Revisionist History ofFootbinding. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 2005.
. Every Step a Lotus: Shoes for Bound Feet. Berkeley and London: University of
California Press, 2001.
. Teachers of the Inner Chambers: Women and Culture in Seventeenth-Century
China. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1994.
Kojiro, Yoshikawa. An Introduction to Sung Poetry. Trans. Burton Watson. Cambridge,
MA:Harvard University Press, 1967.
Kroll, Paul W. "On 'Far Roaming'." Journal of the American Oriental Society 116, no. 4
(1996): 653-69.
. "Seduction Songs of One of the Perfected." In Religions of China in
Practice, ed. Donald Lopez, 180-87. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996.
Kutcher, Norman Alan. Mourning in Late Imperial China: Filial Piety and the State.
Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Lai Jizhi $frM:3L. Tanghu qiao shu erbian \WM^&^~HI.

In Xuxiu siku quanshu, zibu

=fU, zajialei H E I I . Vol. 1196. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1995-2002.

Laing, Ellen Johnson. "Women Painters in Traditional China." In Weidner, Flowering in
the Shadows, 81-101.
Lee, Lily Xiao Hong. "Xie Daoyun: The Style of a Woman Mingshi." In The Virtue of
Yin: Studies on Chinese Women, 25-46. Australia: Wild Peony, 1994.
Legge, James. Confucian Analects. In The Chinese Classics (with a translation, critical

287

and exegetical notes, prolegomena, and copious indexes)..Vol. 1. Hong Kong:

Hong Kong University Press, 1960.
-. The She King. 2 nd ed. with minor text corrections and a Table of Concordances.
In The Chinese Classics. Vol. 4. Taibei: Jinxue shuju, 1966.
. trans. The Writings ofKwang-3ze. In The Sacred Books of China: The Texts of
Taoism. 2 nd impression. London: Oxford University Press, 1927.
Li Baomin ^ i ^ K ; , annotator. Yimo chunhen meng li shouLit Bicheng shici zhushi
^MWM$.gHMI#fH]Iff.

ft

Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2004.

Li Boqi ^ f S ^ . Zhongguo gudaijiyou wenxueshi ^Ml^iXftHMX^iL.

Jinan:

Shandong youyi shushe,1989.

Li E Mi- Fanxie shanfangji wai shi HHf lil^jH^hsf. In Li E, Fanxie shanfang quanji.
. Fanxie shanfang quanji JtHflilJU^Ifc. Taibei: Taiwan zhonghua shuju, 1965.
et al., comps. Songshijishi ^5l#&2^P-. Taibei: Taiwan shangwu yinshuguan, 1968.
Li Fang ^07j, et al., comps. Taiping guangji A^FifffS. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju,
1961.
Li Fangmin $ 7 3 ^.

"Tangdai fojiao siyuan wenhua yu shige chuangzuo^'ftijlffc^f K

Xik&W&Mtt.

WenshizheX^M

5 (2005): 97-103.

Li Fengmao. You yu you: Liuchao Sui Tangyouxianshi lunjiW^M.'- T^JPf

MT&\^\W

skM. Taibei: Xuesheng shuju, 1996.

Li Liufang ^ ^ U T I . Li Liufang shanshui huace ^M^

ill 7JC*ff9". Da fo si yi zui lou,

n.d., ca.1920.
. TanyuanjiJslMM.

In Wenyuange Siku quanshujibu,

288

bieji.

Li Xiaorong. "Rewriting the Inner Chambers: The Boudoir in Ming-Qing Women's

Poetry." Ph.D. diss., McGill University, 2006.
Lian Zhenbiao Jtjt|P|. Guo Puyanjiu MWM%.

Shanghai: Shanghai sanlian shudian,

2002.
Liao Gailong M16M. et al., eds. Zhongguo renmin dacidian ^ H A ^ S Aif:fi-. Shanghai:
Shanghai cishu chubanshe, 1989-1990.
Lin Meiyi #3^111. "Shilun Yanghu Zuo shi erdai cainu zhi jiazu guanxi" t^ffflrPJISiSiR;
ftstizZ-MMM^Zhongguowenzhe

yanjiu jikan ^MX^JffuM^l

30

(2007): 179-222.
Lin Ting # , and Liu Weirong f i j l t ^ . "Wumen hechuGusu Tai"

Zkflfi!J&&M

H . Henan tushuguan xuekan M S I S l l f f ^TO 1 (2001): 78.

LingZhiyuanJ^lltM. Cuiluogeshici gao W-M&MMM- 1854.
http ://digital. library .mcgill. ca/mingqing/english/.
Linqing HUt. Hongxueyinyuan tuji S I S ' S I ^ H I G . Shanghai: Tongwen shuju, 1886.
Liu Dajie g J A H i "Guanyu Cai Yan de 'Hujia shiba pai'"

TOII^Mn+Aft.

Repr. In Zhang and Zhang, Gudai niishiren yanjiu, 274-86.

Liu, James J. Y. Major Lyricists of the Northern SungA.D. 960-1126. Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1974.
. The Poetry of Li Shang-yin: Ninth-Century Baroque Chinese Poet. Chicago: The
University of Chicago Press, 1969.
Liu Huairong 'JfJllil, et al. Er shi shiji yilai Xian Qin zhi Tangdai shige yanjiu "HiiiSfi
\>k^^M'S.MiX%^M(^%.

Jinan: Qilu shushe, 2006.

289

Liu Shengmu ifJS^K. "Er nii dizi shi" _ ^ C ^ - ? | # . In Changchu Zhai suibi U S S t M s j l
E^E, 9.857. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1998.
Liu Wu-chi, and Irving Yucheng Lo, eds. Sunflower Splendor: Three Thousand Years of
Chinese Poetry. Bloomington and London: Indiana University Press, 1975.
Liu Xiang % 'J |R] . Lienu zhuan ^J^Cpf. Taibei: Zhonghua shuju, 1965.
Liu Xiaomeng ^!MN0f. "Qingdai Beijing qiren de fendi he jitianyiju beike jinxing de

kaocha"m^^KA6<]^ife|l^ffltf&ffiMMfi&l^M.

Qingshi luncong

yftifefffalt, ed. Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan lishi yanjiusuo Ming Qing shi
yanjiushi *mft^&Um.M%ffi*Mffl%%.,

1-19. Beijing: Zhongguo

guangbo dianshi chubanshe, 2001.

Liu Yiqing HlJtiJl. Youming lu $&ty\M-, Gu xiaoshuo gouchen ~^A^WL^-OL,

comp. Lu

Xun HxEL In LuXun quanji ^ J B S ^ : ^ . Vol. 8. Beijing: Renmin wenxue

chubanshe, 1973.
Lu Chang W.M.- Lichao mingyuan shici M4H$=) WiWfM 1772.
Lu Xun. "Weijin fengdu ji wenzhang yu yao ji jiu zhi guanxi" I l f t M y 8 2 ^ t ' $ ^ l l 2 &
MZ.M{$ In Lu Xun quanji # S i 4 ^ . Vol. 3, Eryiji M B H , 523-53. Beijing:
Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 2005.
Lii Lizhong S A A S . "Qingdai Qianlong shiqi Guangxi de wenziyu"

^Mi^MMMMM^

$J " 3 t ^ # . " Guangxi shehui kexue / t M t t # f 4 * 5 (2008):27-28.

Lu Shaoqing Si>!iP. "Lun Ni Zan de dangshi shiming dayu huaming" f^j^6 < ]^'B#l^

290

45 ^C^lH^rj. Nanjingyishu xuanyuan xuebao (meishu yu sheji ban)^M

U^m

11%^

(HffiHtfctl-JK) 3 (2005): 74-76.

Lii Zuqian QliLSi. Woyou lu ^MM-

In Baibu congshujicheng W nPHllrMf$, comp.

Yan Yiping H ^ . Taibei: Yiwen yinshuguan, 1964-1968.

Luo Qilan |&f W. Tingqiuxuan shiji t l ^ f H t ^ f t . 1795.
Luo Zhufeng Sift JUL, et al., eds. Hanyu dacidian WkWi~J\W\$k- Shanghai: Hanyu dacidian
chubanshe, 2001.
Ma Qingfu MWi^h- Wentanjiaxiufunii zuojia qun ~$CM.&^#^CffMffl-

Shenyang:

Liaoning renmin chubanshe, 1997.

Mann, Susan. "Fuxue (Women's Learning) by Zhang Xuecheng (1738-1801): China's
First History of Women's Culture." Late Imperial China 13, no.l (1992): 40-92.
. Precious Records: Women in China's Long Eighteenth Century. Stanford:
Stanford University Press, 1997.
. The Talented Women of the Zhang Family. Berkeley: University of California
Press, 2007.
. "The Virtue of Travel for Women in the Late Empire." In Gender in Motion:
Divisions of Labor and Cultural Change in Late Imperial and Modern China, ed.
Bryna Goodman and Wendy Larson, 55-74. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield
Publishers, Inc., 2005.
. "Womanly Sentiments and Political Crises: Zhang Qieying's Poetic Voice in the
Mid-Nineteenth Century." In Voices amid Silence: Women and the Nation in
Modern China (1600-1950) I R S ^ S : J&iX^M^M^^MM

291

(1600-1950).

Vol. 1, ed. Lu Fangshang J j i : , 198-222. Taipei: Institute of Modern History,

Academia Sinica, 2003.
Mather, Richard B., trans. Shih-shuo Hsin-yti: A New Account of Tales of the World. 2 n
ed. Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, 2002.
McLaren, Anne E., trans, with an introduction. The Chinese Femme Fatale: Stories from
the Ming Period. Sydney: Wild Peony, 1994.
Mei Li f3$J. "Zhenwu xinyang yanjiu zongshu" jLjj^fg j ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ s . Zongjiao yanjiu ^
M %

3 (2005): 35-40.

Meng, Liuxi. "Qu Bingyun (1767-1810): One Member of Yuan Mei's Female Disciple
Group." Ph.D. diss., University of British Columbia, 2003.
Miao Shumei H I f ^ l . "Songdai zongshi, waiqi yu huanguan renyong zhidu shulun"^"^
i t ,

^ H g W f t f f i f f r J g & M . Shixueyuekan ^ j ! f l j 5 (1995): 32-38.

Miao Quansun Hrll-f^. "Zeng Taifuren Zuo shi jiazhuan" ^ ^ J C ^ A S i K ^ ' f f .

Yifengtang wen xuji IS M.'sLJCM'M. In Xuxiu siku quanshu. Vol. 1574.
Miles, Steven B. The Sea of Learning: Mobility and Identity in Nineteenth-Century
Guangzhou. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press, 2006.
Mills, Sara. Discourses of Difference: An Analysis of Women's Travel Writing and
Colonialism. London and New York: Routledge, 1991.
Moi, Toril. "Feminist, Female, Feminine." In The Feminist Reader: Essays in Gender
and the Politics of Literary Criticism, ed. Catherine Belsey and Jane Moore, 11732. Cambridge, MA and Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 1989.
Nagarjuna. Da zhi du lun AlfjStra. Trans. KumarajTva. Vol. 2. Taibei: Zhen shan mei

292

chubanshe, 1967.
Nan Nil: Men, Women and Gender in Early and Imperial China 3, no.l (2001).
Naquin, Susan. Peking: Temples and City Life, 1400-1900. Berkeley: University of
California Press, 2000.
Ni Tao iftM- Liu yi zhi yi lu 7\|f^L$k, xubian H I S . In Wenyuange siku quanshu,
zibu

TM.

Nienhauser, William H., Jr., ed. and comp. The Indiana Companion to Traditional
Chinese Literature. 2 nd rev. ed. Taipei: SMC Publishing Inc., 1986.
O'Connor, Mike, trans. When I Find You Again, It Will Be in Mountains. Boston:
Wisdom Publications, 2000.
Ouyang, Eugene. "The Wang Chao-chun Legend: Configurations of the
Classic."ChineseLiterature: Essays, Articles, Reviews (CLEAR) 4, no.l (1982):
3-22.
Owen, Stephen. An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911. New York:
W.W. Norton & Company, 1996.
. "The Formation of the Tang Estate Poem." Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies
55. no.l (1995): 39-59.
. The Making of Early Chinese Classical Poetry. Cambridge, MA and London:
Harvard University Asia Center, 2006.
. Readings in Chinese Literary Thought. Cambridge, MA and London: Council
on East Asian Studies, Harvard University, 1992.
Pidhainy, Ihor Olehovych. Yang Shen and the Nature of Travel Writing. Ph.D. diss.,
University of Toronto, 2005.

293

Pratt, Mary Louise. Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation. London and
New York: Routledge, 1992.
Qian Shoupu ti^PSt. Xiufolou shigao ^HHHIt^l.1869. http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/
mingqing/english/.
Qian Zhongshu ISs&f'llr- Guan zhui bian I f f f l S . Hong Kong: Zhonghua shuju, 1979.
Qian Zhonglian HH^If. Qingshijishi Yjtf^&iHk Vol. 22. Nanjing: Jiangsu guji
chubanshe, 1989.
Qin Shucai # ; t . "Cai Yurong yu Qingchu Yunnan z h i l u a n " ^ M ^ H ^ ^ U S f f i } p i L .
Yunnan jiaoyu xueyuan xuebao s S i ^ W ^ K ^ I S 15, no. 1(1999): 32-37.
Quan Tangshi ikMWf. comp. Zhonghua shuju bianjibu c t = l ^ * ^ I S $ l ^ . Beijing:
Zhonghua shuju, 1999.
Ren Jiyu &MM, ed. Fojiao dacidian

ftffc^lf:ft.

Nanjing: Jiangsu guji chubanshe,

2002.
Rich, Andrienne. "The Kingdom of Fathers." Partisan Review 43, no.l (1976):17-37.
Ridgway, Benjamin B. "Imagined Travel: Displacement, Landscape, and Literati Identity
in the Song Lyrics of Su Shi (1037-1101)." Ph.D. diss., University of Michigan,
2005.
Robertson, Maureen. "Changing the Subject: Gender and Self-inscription in Authors'
Prefaces and 'Shi' Poetry." In Widmer and Chang, Writing Women in Late
Imperial China, 17'1 -217.
. "Voicing the Feminine: Constructions of the Gendered Subject in
Lyric Poetry by Women of Medieval and Late Imperial China." Late Imperial
China 13, no.l (1992): 63-110.
294

Rouzer, Paul F. Articulated Ladies: Gender and the Male Community in Early Chinese
Texts. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2001.
Rowe, William T. "Women and the Family in Mid-Ch'ing Social Thought: The Case of
Chen Hung-mou." Late Imperial China 13, no.2 (1992): 1-41.
Ruan Enluan I5tieim. Cihuiguan ci HBltM. In Xu, Xiaotanluan shi huike guixiu
ci.
Saussy, Haun. The Problem of a Chinese Aesthetic. Stanford: Stanford University Press,
1993.
Schafer, Edward H. Mirages on the Sea of Time: The Taoist Poetry ofTs 'ao T'ang.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985.
Schmidt, J. D. Harmony Garden: The Life, Literary Criticism, and Poetry of Yuan Mei
(1716-1798). London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003.
Seigneuret, Jean-Charles, ed. Dictionary of Literary Themes and Motifs. New York:
Greenwood Press, 1988.
Shan Shili -P-drSI. Shouzi shishigao 5ti,'MWWi. Changsha: Hunan wenyi chubanshe,
1986.
Shen Jiyou M^lxi.

Zuili shixi f i j ^ M | g . In Wenyuange siku quanshujibu, zongji %MM.

Shen Shanbao tfcHilf Mingyuan shihua %tWcWM. inXuxiu Siku

quanshujibu.

Vol.1706.
Shen Wei VLW. "Lun er Mi shanshuihua zhi bian" f ^ H ^ l i l / K H ^ H . Meishuyanjiu |s
'4M% 4 (1997): 71-76.
Shen Yue yfl^J. Songshu ^5lt. In Er shi si shi.
Shi Shuyi MMM- Guochao guige shiren zhenglue HIEKHUgf AI&B&. Taibei: Tailian
295

guofeng chubanshe, 1970 .

Sima Qian W] fJH. Shiji jf ci. In Er shi si shi.
Simpson, J. A., and E. S. C. Weiner, preparers. The Oxford English Dictionary. 2 n ed.
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989.
Song Qi 5J5? R, and Ouyang Xiu W$ioi&, comps. Xin Tangshu ff Jjf iH. In Er shi si shi.
Soothill,William Edward, and Lewis Hodous, comps. A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist
Terms with Sanskrit and English Equivalents and a Sanskrit-Pali Index. London:
Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co.Ltd., 1975.
Spender, Dale. "Women and Literary History." In The Feminist Reader: Essays in
Gender and the Politics of Literary Criticism, ed. Catherine Belsey and Jane
Moore, 21-33. Cambridge, MA and Oxford: Blackwell, 1989.
Stary, Giovanni. A Dictionary ofManchu Names. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag,
2000.
Strassberg, Richard E., trans, and annotator. Inscribed Landscapes: Travel Writing from
Imperial China. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994.
Su Fangyu If ^ ^P. "Bum Guangling chun: wuzhong zhengyi yu shuxie yanbian xia de
Songdai q i o n g h u a l u n s h u " ^ A ^ # :

^8WII#^gTM*ftatf!ft

i. Donghua Zhongguo wenxueyanjiu M^^MX^ffifu

4 (2006): 127-46.

Su Zhecong I ? : # I I , comp. "Nuzhong shihaoLi Ye" ic^WM^vf}.

In Zhongguo

lidai cainii 4 1 H S ! f^-fic. Vol. 1, 200-10. Zhengzhou: Henan renmin chubanshe,

1996.
Sun Changwu ^ H S . Shiyuan xianzong: shigeyu shenxian xinyang Wf~$LW$&.: ffffcl^

296

#iL|'fi'fcP. Tianjin: Nankai daxue chubanshe, 2005.

SunGuangxianJfjTfcl?. Beimeng suoyanitWM.^

Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1960.

Sun Peilan ^ H I M - Yincui lou shigao ^WWMWk.

1888. http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/

mingqing/english/.
Sun Yuanxiang J-^J^ffi. TianzhengejijR.%&M-

1891.

Tan Zhengbi gfJlEIt. Zhongguo niixing wenxueshi ^ I S i c t t ^ T ^ i f e . Repr. Jinan: Baihua

wenyi chubanshe, 2001.
Tang Tuanjie Jif Hl&n. "Shangguan Wan'er shengping k a o s h u " J : ' B ' M I & ^ J F # ^ .
Henanjiaoyu xueyuan xuebao (zhexue shehui kexue ban) M S ^ W ^ I ^ I ^ f S (1?
Jft-f-|.Jj) 23, no.5 (2004): 34-38.
Tao Zhenhuai M0.1M.. Tianyuhua ^xM^c- Zhengzhou: Zhongzhou guji chubanshe, 1984.
Tong Xiangfeim [^fH. "Shici changhe de lishi, yanjiu yiyi ji yajiu xianzhuang gaishu"gvp
mm%n W I i >

W%M^%M%MflVfc3&.

xueyuan xuebao MikX&J$LXt8M%ffl%%M.

Hubei daxue chengren jiaoyu

19, no. 5(2001): 33-35.

von den Steinen, Diether, trans, and annotator. "Poems of Ts'ao Ts'ao." Monumenta
Serica [Journal of Oriental Studies of the Catholic University of Peking] IV
(1939-1940): 125-81.
Waley, Arthur, trans. The Book of Songs: The Ancient Chinese Classic of Poetry.
Foreword, by Stephen Owen. Postface, by Joseph Allen. New York: Grove Press,
1996.
Wan QingchuanMffif JH, and Cao LinaWM^P. "Xuanjuan yu jinxiang: Ming-Qing funii

297

shenghuo jianyingyi xiaoshuo wei kaocha d u i x i a n g " ! a # ^ 3 l # : Hjv^^^^fe

?&MW> t ^ U h t J U I ^ S i f i l . Zhongguo dianjiyu wenhua^ M f H U f c t t , 3
(2007): 95-100.
Wang Bomin 3fS. "Ni Zan shanshuihua de kongshu mei" j j ^ l l | 7 K l l ^ ? i ? $ l l J t . Xin
Meishu ?li#J 1 (1995): 39-40.
Wang Chong 3^fc. Lunhengjiaoshi (fu Liu Pansuijijie) t'wiW'$lW

($iM$}MMM),

compiled and annotated by Huang Hui y%W- Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1990.
Wang Duan %% Ziranhaoxuezhai shichao $$#? ^MW#.

InLinxiayayinji # T f |

W^fc, comp. Mao JuniSflL http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/mingqing/english/.

Wang Duanshui^ffiiSJ. Mingyuan shiwei chubian ^WLW^tylftim. 1667. http://digital
.library.mcgill.ca/mingqing/english/.
. Yinhongji^lM.

1651-1655.

Wang JiminZE^K;, comp. Zhongguo gudai wenlun chenshu ^M^iX^Ctk^-H-

Wuhan:

Huazhong shifan daxue chubanshe, 2002.

Wang Jiangzhang I ^ S I E . Lidai shenxian shi Mf^tt'flljjfe. Taibei: Xinwenfeng, 1979.
Wang Nanping IEMM, comp. Ming Qing shuhua xuanji B | ^ * M S f t . Hong Kong:
Nanhua yinshua youxian gongsi, ca. 1975.
Wang Qi I J . "Cheng Zhengkui 'Jiangshan woyou tu' juan" f l l E S ttLljg/J^))
# . Zijincheng ^M^L

3 (1994): 44-46.

Wang Qi EM- Chidu xinyu guangbian XJSlPfimJff 16. 1668.

. Chidu xinyu er bian j^.liM0TlpIS. 1667.

298

Wang Qishu ffi#$R, comp. Xiefangji W.7$M. 1785-1795.

Wang S i r e n l S i i . "Xu shi sankezhuanji"?RH"BTflii2. In Xu,

XuXiakeyouji,

1258-60.
Wang Xianqian 3E5fci|. Zhuangzi jijie$rf%.%.

Taibei: Taiwan shangwu yinshuguan,

1968.
Wang Yingzhii5|;fe. "Guanyu Suiyuan niidizi de chengyuan shengcheng yu
chuangzuo" WiWmM~k%:f

# M M > $jfc!lf. Jinggangshan shifan

xueyuanxuebao#mdimW^&^$&

23, no.\ (2002): 18-25.

. "Suiyuan diyi niidizi Changshu niishiren Xi Peilan lunlue"

^ B i c l ^ A / ^ i l M I ^ 0 # . Wuzhongxuekan^^\

filill!l~ici^~f

3 (1995): 53-58.

. Suiyuan xingling BtiH'1411. Nanjing: Dongnan daxue chubanshe, 2004.

, comp. Xinbian Qingshi sanbai shou ffli^i#H"@""If. Nanjing: Jiangsu guji
chubanshe, 1995.
. Yuan Mei jiXinglingpai

shizhuan $ f e f i t t f i M f r e f # . Changchun: Jilin

renmin chubanshe, 2000.

Wang Yongxiang3i7K.#. "Songdai Guizhou nuhuajia Gong Suran jiqi 'Mingfei
chusaitu'"5f5ft*;H1*^3tM^

TOtB&B

.WenshitiandiX^Ji

ffi4(1996): 10-11.
Wang Yousheng 3LMM- "Xian Tang wenren de youxian jingshen lun"5fcJif 3t A^J^'flll
^Mm-

Yuwenxuekan fglfc^flj 1(1998): 1-4.

Wang Zhenyi 3LM.M- Defengting chuji WA-^J]M- 1916.

299

http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/mingqing/english/.
Ward, Julian. XuXiake (1587-1641): The Art of Travel Writing. Richmond: Curzon
Press, 2001.
Watson, Burton, trans. The Complete Works ofChuang Tzu. New York: Columbia
University Press, 1968.
Watson, James L., and Evelyn S. Rawski, eds. Death Ritual in Late Imperial and
Modern China. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.
Wei Qingzhi f S l H i . Shiren yuxie WfA3JB. In Wenyuange siku quanshu, shiwen
pinglei S#3tlf I I .
Weidner, Marsha. "The Conventional Success of Ch'en Shu." In Weidner, Flowering in
the Shadows, 124-56.
, ed. Flowering in the Shadows: Women in the History of Chinese and Japanese
Painting. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1990.
Weidner, Marsha, et al., eds. Views from Jade Terrace: Chinese Women Artists 13001912. Indianapolis: the Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1988.
Wen'anxianzhi^t^HLife.

Repr. Taibei: Chengwenchubanshe, 1968.

Wenyuange siku quanshu 3ttJHJHIZ9j^^#. CD-ROM. Wuhan: Wuhan daxue chubanshe,

1997.
Widmer, Ellen. The Beauty and the Book: Women and Fiction in Nineteenth-Century
China. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Asia Center, 2006.
. "Foreign Travel through a Woman's Eyes: Shan Shili's Guimao luxingji in
Local and Global Perspective." Journal of Asian Studies 65, no.4 (2006): 763-91.
Widmer, Ellen, and Kang-i Sun Chang, eds. Writing Women in Late Imperial China.

300

Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997.

Wile, Douglas, ed. "Queen Mother of the West's Ten Precepts on the True Path of
Women's Practice." In Art of the Bedchamber: The Chinese Sexual Yoga Classics
Including Women's Solo Meditation Texts, 193-201. Albany: State University of
New York Press, 1992.
Wong, Eva, trans. The Seven Taoist Masters: A Folk Novel of China. Boston and London:
Shambhala, 1990.
Wong, Siu-kit, Allan Chung-hang Lo, and Kwong-tai Lam, trans. The Book of Literary
Design. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1999.
Woolf, Virginia. A Room of One's Own. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.,
1929.
Wu Chengxue ^ ^ ^ , and Li B i n ^ M . "Ming Qing ren yanzhong de Chen Meigong"B|
V^ABS't'Kd^JB^'. ShoujieMingdai wenxueguojiyantaohui
X^M^MM^tmXM,

lunwenji~^M^MiX

ed. He YongkangM/XJt and Chen S h u l u M l f t , 368-

80. Nanjing: Nanjing shifan daxue chubanshe, 2004.

Wu, Pei-yi. The Confucian's Progress: Autobiographical Writings in Traditional China.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990.
Wu Shengqing. '"Old Learning and the Refeminization of Modern Space in the Lyric
Poetry of Lu Bicheng." Modern Chinese Literature and Culture 16, no.l (2006):
1-75.
Wu Y u n h u a ^ - s ^ . Yanghua xuan shichao # : j f t$-| : l##. In Cai, Guochao guige shichao.
Wu Zhenyu ^ftkWt- Yangjizhai conglu #llf S l ^ i f t . In Jindai Zhongguo shiliao

301

congkan tftiX^ M$.^Mf'J,

ed. Shen Yunlong fctlti. Vol. 220. Taibei xian

Yonghe zhen: Wenhai chubanshe, 1968.

Xi Peilan JffifflM- Changzhengeji - S K M f t - 1891. http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/
mingqing/english/.
Xi Tongyun M ^ U . Gw? zhong zao wu you huaxian Gu Chun shici zhuping p] 4 1 3 a ^
W#:lljM#|vfMsiIf. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2004.
Xin Wenfang ^3C^.

Tang Caizizhuan M^-fW

Beijing: Zhonghua shuji, 1965.

Xu Deyin ^fcW^m. Lujingxuan shichao , % # $ f l ^ f # . In Cai Dianqi, Guochao guige

shichao.
Xu Hongzu '&9bM.. Xu Xiake youji ^ R ^ i ^ I f i . Ed. Chu Shaotang If&SJflf and Wu
Yingshou ^ J f i l p . Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1987.
Xu Jingfan i ^ f t ^ . Lanxuexuan shi HJifffl^f (Nansorhon si), ca.1608.
http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/mingqing/english/.
Xu Naichang # 7 5 s , comp. Guixiu cichao M # M # . 1909. http://digital.library
.mcgill.ca/mingqing/english/.
, comp. Xiaotanluan shi huike baijia guixiu ci 4^W.^"5L$kMlS Sfi-M^M. 1896.
http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/mingqing/english/.
Xu Shichang f^tttll, comp. Qingshi hui yftMfi. Beijing: Beijing chubanshe, 1996.
Xu Shuhui Iftifelf. Shou yin ci S ^ M - In Xu, Xiaotanluan shi huike baijia guixiu ci.
Xu Youfuf^Ws. Tangdaifunii shenghuo yu shi f^i^MittiL^i^W.

Beijing: Zhonghua

shuju, 2005.
Xu Yuanzhong, trans, and versifier. Song of the Immortals: An Anthology of Classical

302

Chinese Poetry. Bilingual ed. Beijing: New World Press, 1994.

Xu Zhen'e # f t # , comp. Shishuo xinyu jiaojian lijt&Uftnl&li, by Liu Yiqing f iJH J | .
Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1984.
Xue Shaohuiii^&iBttt Daiyunlou shiwenji MliM.WiWf'XM- 1911. http://digital.library
.mcgill.ca/mingqing/english/.
Xuxiu Siku quanshu W&k^Mi&M- Xuxiu siku quanshu bianzuan weiyuanhui UtH^ES/^
^ r A f r a ^ g l ' t ' . Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1995-2002.
Yang Binbin. "Women and the Aesthetics of Illness: Poetry on Illness by Qing-dynasty
Women Poets." Ph.D. diss., Washington University in St. Louis, 2007.
Yang Hsien-yi, and Gladys Yang, trans. A Dream of Red Mansions. Vol. I. Peking:
Foreign Languages Press, 1978.
Yang Mingzhao^B|M, annotator and supplementer. Wenxin diaolong jiaozhu J t ^ S i
f i S l i . Shanghai: Zhonghua shuju, 1964.
Yang XhrfUlFr. Cheng ZhengkuiMlE^.

Shanghai: Shanghai renmin meishu chubanshe,

1982.
Yang Yong WoM, annotator. Tao Yuanmingji jiaojian P!l$jfB|^lS:il. Hong Kong:
Wuxing ji shuju, 1971.
Yang Yu ^#M. "Zhongguo nanxing wenren qizhi rouhua de shehui xinli yuanyuan jiqi
wenxue biaoxian" 4 ] f f l J ! t t : f c A ^ J R t t W t t ' l > f f i ^ & : f c ^ i & .

Wen

shizhe 3C%.*& 2 (2004): 107-12.

Yao Nai Miffi. "Yuan Suiyuan jun muzhiming bmgxu":SffiHif I I B & ^ M J ! 5 . InXibao

303

xuan quanji 'HrJfilf^rft. Vol. 1, 13.13b-14a/b. Taibei: Taiwan zhonghua shuju,

1965.
Yip, Wai-lim, ed. and trans. Chinese Poetry: An Anthology of Major Modes and Genres.
Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1997.
You Guo'en i S H m , et al. Chucijishi J t i f MM- Hong Kong: Xianggang wenyuan
shuwu, 1962.
Youngs, Tim and Glenn Hooper. Perspectives on Travel Writing. Burlington: Ashgate,
2004.
Yu, Anthony C , trans, and ed. The Journey to the West, by Wu Cheng'en ^T^JiE.
Chicago: University of Chicago, 1977-1983.
Yu Guanying ^kM5%z, and Wei Fengjuan 1pm#i, eds. Gushi jingxuan "SflffSiS.
Nanjing: Jiangsu guji chubanshe, 1992.
Yu, Pauline. "Canon Formation in Late Imperial China." In Culture and State in Chinese
History: Conventions, Accommodations, and Critiques, ed. Theodore Huters et al.
Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997.
. The Poetry of Wang Wei: New Translations and Commentary. Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, 1980.
Yii Chim-fang. Kuan-yin: The Chinese Transformation of Avalokitesvara. New York:
Columbia University Press, 2001.
Yuan Hongdao M.'jS.M.. "Xu Xiaoxiu s h i ' ^ ^ J ^ ^ I ^ f t . In Yuan Zhonglang quanji M^
UR^kM, comp. Yang Jialuo WaW-%%1, 5-6. Taibei: Shijie shuju, 1964.
Yuan Jingrong M^M-- Yuequxuan shicaoBM^Wf^-.
.mcgill. ca/mingqing/english/.
304

1848. http://digital.library

Yuan Mei M%L. Suiyuan quanji R f i H ^ f t . Shanghai: Wenming shuju, 1918.

. Suiyuan shihua KtHsf fj. In Suiyuan quanji. Vol. 5.
. Suiyuan shihua buyi Bt HfRlf ISMiil, in Suiyuan quanji. Vol. 6.
. "Suo hao xuanji"^f$ffFffi. Xiaocangshanfang xu wenji'^lklhBM^CM,

29.1a.

In Xiaocangshanfang shiwenji 4^1klhl^iWf^CM- Vol. 4. Taibei: Taiwan

Zhonghua shuju, 1965.
, comp. Suiyuan niidizi shixuan ^ i S ^ l l l ^ f t^f. 1796-1850. http://digital
.library.mcgill.ca/mingqing/english/.
Yuan Xingpei ~MMM- Zhongguo wenxue gailun^MJC^M^k

( ^ H ^ ) . Beijing:

Gaodeng jiaoyu chubanshe, 2006.

YudingPeiwenzhai shuhuapu S ^ l l l 3 t ^ * * H H . In Wenyuange siku quanshu, zibu.
Yun Zhu 'W$^. Guochao guixiu zhengshiji I ^ ^ M ^ I E ^ n ^ . Hongxiangguan, 1831.
http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/mingqing/english/.
. Guochao guixiu zhengshi xuji I S f J H ^ i E ^ n U f t . Hongxiangguan, 1836.
http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/mingqing/english/.
Zeitlin, Judith. "Disappearing Verses: Writings on Walls and Anxieties of Loss." In
Writing and Materiality in China: Essays in Honor of Patrick Hanan, ed. Judith
Zeitlin and Lydia H. Liu, with Ellen Widmer, 73-132. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Asia Center, 2003.
Zeng Pu HHt. Nie hai huaWMMi- Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1979.
Zeng Yi <^M,. Guhuanshiji SWMM.

1907. http://digital.library

.mcgill.ca/mingqing/english/.

305

Zhai Minggang H^JPII. "Shilun Zhongguo wenxue zhong de denggao zln^r'a^tit^ 1 MJC
%* M 3 i t f . Xibei minzuxueyuan xuebao WiU&1fe&U&%k

(1996):171-75.
Zhang Cong. "The Culture of Travel in Song China (960-1276)." Ph.D. diss., University
of Washington, 2003.
Zhang Dejian 3H$gji. "Moshi de mingshi fengduChen Jiru c h u y i ' ^ t f t ^ ^ i J l S
M.MMMM. Zhongzhou xuekan <f jW^TU 1 (2006): 224-27.
Zhang Hongsheng $x%;QL and Zhang Yan ^MJft, comps. Gudai nushiren yanjiu "Sf^^C
ItXffi%.

Wuhan: Hubei jiaoyu chubanshe, 2002.

Zhang Huijuan 3ISf #. "Tangdai nushiren yanj hi" JiH^^C If J\M%- M.A. thesis,
Zhongguo wenhua xueyuan yanjiusuo, 1978.
Zhang Juling "M^J^. Kuangdai cainii Gu Taiqing Wi^ttizWU&M.

Beijing: Beijing

chubanshe, 2002.
Zhang Pengzhou ^31;$-. Xue Tao shijian SUIlgvfil. Chengdu: Sichuan renmin
chubanshe, 1983.
Zhang Weizhi 3fl|^l, et al., comp. Zhongguo lidai renming dacidian 4 1 H B f ^ A ^ A
WfM. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1999.
Zhang Wanying 3S$L^. Linyun youyue zhiju shi chugao M93iR

i-FSWf'tylWh- 1825.

. "Nangui jicheng"SHiB@. In Canfengguan wenji chubian # $ l f 3 t # l $ ] | 8 .

1850.
Zhang Zhang 5fi5$, comp. Gu Taiqing Yi Hui shici heji Ij^M^^kWi SJ--||, by Gu
Taiqing HA^Ir and Yi Hui ^5$fr. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1998.

306

ZhaoBotaoiH0PS. "Ri cang chaoben Tianyougeji" 0 Mf}^f

i^iM^M))

. In Guji

zhengli chuban qingkuangjianbao " f i l l 3 ft M i ^ S f f i l S 11 (2005).

http://www.guji.cn/opengjib.php?id=85.
Zhao Qingge W(nH.

LiangShanboyuZhu

Yingtai W.\h\U^MM.a,

trans. Thomas

Shou. Beijing: Xin shijie chubanshe, 1998.

Zhao Shijie M t i ^ . Gujin nil shi "fi"4^^ci. 1628-1644. http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/
mingqing/english/.
Zhao Shiyu SItttJif. Kuanghuan yu richangMing Qingyilai de miaohuiyu minjian
jAeAu/HlfellB^M&&ftJS#l3&|l{!tt#.

Beijing: Sanlian shudian,

2002.
Zhao Yishan l l ^ l i j , and Li Xiusheng^{l^, comps. Zhongguofenti wenxueshi,
sanwenjuan rpMfrWX^i.,

WtX^.

Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe,

2001.
Zhao Yiwu MlUS^. "Heyi bu heyun: shilun Zhong Tang yiqian changheshi de tedian yu
t i z h i ' ^ P m ^ f n f l : p S g ^ J t WltfUlff^ftj#j&Hfl$!|." Gansu shehui kexue #
f f ? # f 4 ^ 3 (1997): 55-59.
. "Tao Yuanming liushou heshi xinjie"P^0j/\"i"fP|vpSri. Gansu shehui
kexue # 1 1 ? # | # 2 (1997): 72-75, 25.
Zheng Yunduan JKJt^fi]. "Suyong ji"ffiitft. In Siku quanshu cunmu

congshuWMitWi

# @ H U , jibu, MM- Jinan: Qilu shushe, 1997.

Zhong Huiling MMi^.

"Niizi youxing, yuan fiimu xiongdi: Qingdai nuzuojia siguishi de

307

tantao"^WfiS i t 5 W l B : mit^WMMMtmUM.

InZhongguo

niixing shuxie: Guoji xueshu yantaohui lunwenji 41 S i c t t H S i : H HH^jfijf I t

Wf&jt^l, 127-69. Taiwan: Xuesheng shuju, 1999.
Zhong Laiyin Ht^fcH. Zhongguxiandao shijinghua ^^i^\MMftW-

Nanjing: Jiangsu

wenyi chubanshe, 1994.

Zhong Xing Hfll. Mingyuan shigui %tWMM, ca.1620. http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/
mingqing/english/.
Zhou Qiong MM- "Gao Qizhuo zhen dian lizhi sixiang
U. Sixiang zhanxian &WMM

chutm"M^1&^'Ml^ffi&Mty]

28, no. 5 (2002): 101-04.

Zhou Yang JRISI, et al., eds. Zhongguo wenxue shi tonglan ^ H 3 t # i f f l ^ . Shanghai:
Dongfang chuban zhongxin, 2005.
Zhou Zhenfu j^$R^f, annotator. Shijingyizhu MMMfSi. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2002.
Zhu Pengshou 9FMW,

comp. Qingdai renwu dashijinian Vpff^A^/AlS&fl^. Beijing:

Beijing tushuguan chubanshe, 2005.

Zhu Xi %zM, annotator. Chucijizhu jStlf H f l , comp. Li Qingjia ^ H . Shanghai:
Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1979.
Zong Bing TK'M- "Hua shanshui xu"ji l_L|7KF?. In Zhongguo meixue zhongyao wenben
tiyao ^ K f t ^ f f i S l f c ^ J t g , ed. Wang Zhenfu i S t S . Vol. 1, 215-18.
Chengdu: Sichuan renmin chubanshe, 2003.
Zuo Xijia lx.%%. Lengyinxianguan shigao, shiyu 74"t)4*'flilMI#^, W$fc- 1891.
http ://digital. library .mcgill .ca/mingqing/english/.

308