As a multitude of practical interests arising from social and political conditions demanded expression, ancient Chinese verse was generally a vocal vehicle. Both common folks and learned men looked upon verse as a natural development of human instinct. It could be made, they thought, in conformity with the "heavenly voice" or tienlai, like the moon moving around the earth, like the blood circulating in the body. They called Li Po the "Angel Banished from Heaven" and Tu Fu was named a sacred poet.
In political poetry, some verses became distinguished precedents and exercised immense influence. Many poets wrote verses expressing important political ideas which can still be understood as a result of careful interpretation. Many verses on political matters were put to music and chanted at public gatherings to serve the causes of official propaganda.
These are some of the forms and examples of political poetry:
Distinguished Precedents
Tsai Chi
The piece entitled Tsai chi was written by the Baroness Hsu Mu, whose mother was Princess of Wei. When young, she enjoyed a wide reputation because of her intelligence and beauty, much like her mother. She refused marriage to a dignitary of the small state of Hsu. She said, "The prince has a daughter who can claim assistance from a great power by marriage. Hsu is a small state, while Tse is a great state close to us. In case incidents occur on the frontiers and an appeal is made to the great state, is it not better to have me there? " But contrary to her expectations, she was married to the Baron of Hsu.
Wei was invaded by a northern tribe about 660 B.C. The Baroness took a chariot to meet with the displaced people of Wei and tell them of her plan to appeal to the great state by singing her poem Tsai chi. Ever since, Tsai chi has been a term for an appeal for international help. In modern times, the services of a Baroness Hsu Mu could assure a small state of perpetual peace. Baroness Hsu Mu was one of the six poetesses of her age and undoubtedly the best.
Li Sao
In the period of Contending States, there were major powers: Chyn, Tsoo and Tse. Chyn was aggressive. A political alliance between Tsoo and Tse to maintain a balance was proposed by Chu Yuan, the eloquent high minister and poet of Tsoo. He won the full confidence of his prince, with whom he discussed national affairs and for whom he conducted diplomacy. Then political rivals undermined his position. He was banished at least twice and during this time composed Li Sao verses in irregular meter, entirely different from the style of the period.
His poetry is full of imagination, creating a wonderful world unsurpassed for many centuries. His moral purity and gravity expressed in verse had a powerful effect on readers. Chu Yuan was "tall and slim with beautiful whiskers and curious dress"—perhaps a Bernard Shaw of old China. He washed the tassel of his hat thrice a day and said: "The world is foul. I alone am clean."
Chu Yuan was loyal to his state. He was greatly worried about its future and knew his ignorant colleagues were unable to cope with the situation. He predicted that the capital of Tsoo would be taken by the enemy. He stated his ideas clearly in Li Sao. One of its sections gives a full account of his political activities and mention is made of his intention to take his life. At last he drowned himself in a tributary of the Hsiang. This was on the fifth day of the fifth moon. Boat after boat put out to rescue him but in vain. The Dragon Boat races of the fifth day of the fifth moon still observe this occasion in many countries of East Asia.
Li Sao has been continuously read. With the exception of one of its sections that extends to about 400 lines, it is in fact a little volume and a great book. Like Virigil's Aeneid it has exercised enduring influence upon scholars. The special political verse-making of Chu Yuan was continued and strengthened by his disciples—Sung Yu, Tand Le, Ching Cha and others. Most of the later works are lost. Sung Yu's poetry closely resembled that of his master, for whom he had great sympathy. He regretted that the ruler of Tsoo had not welcomed the services of worthy men. Sung Yu is often mentioned with his master as Chu Sung. The form of the Li Sao became very popular in the poetical circles.
People of Hunan, especially those in the area of the Hsiang, are said to have distinguished characters. They are faithful to their friends and adopt an uncompromising attitude toward their principles. Yang Tu, a modern Hunanese, declared that the mainland of China might be conquered by foreigners but that the Hunanese would recover it. Many Hunanese poets were influenced by the poetry of Chu Yuan and his disciples.
Seven Issues
The Empire of Han comprised several vassal states, including Woo. The ruler of Woo joined other states in plotting against the imperial administration. His senior secretary Mei Cheng (70? -140) urged him to reconsider but the ruler declined. Mei Cheng was forced to leave the country. At the critical moment, he made another protest but failed again. When the seven vassal states were overcome, the name of Mei Cheng and his poetry became well known throughout the empire.
Mei Cheng wrote several poems. In one he told of an old woman wailing against the wall. This is interpreted as representing his persistent protests. Another poem about the horse in the north and the bird in the south indicates that Mei Cheng did not forget his native country. Other poems on hibiscus, crickets, epidendrum, etc., also have political import. When he tells us these things, he also is relating events of his time. Mei Cheng wanted to save Woo as well as the Han empire. His sincerity shows in his poetry. He was loved by the people. When Wu-ti came to the throne, he sent a special chariot to carry Mei Cheng from his home. Unfortunately, the poet was too old and died on the way.
Mei Cheng was famed for having written the "Seven Issues," a new form of poetry also known as the "seven". It is said that he had used this to help the prince of Tsoo recover from illness.
Four Annoyings
Few Chinese poets have achieved so much in pure and applied science as Chang Heng of the Later Han Dynasty. Chang Heng constructed a spherical instrument to show the earth inside the universe like a yoke in an egg. He also made an seismograph that was accurate. His other inventions included a flying machine that looked like a wooden bird; a map of the earth and a south-pointing chariot using a mechanical device, not a compass.
Chang Heng's "The Two Capitals" won him a good reputation. He criticized bureaucratic extravagance and was concerned about the national fate. Thinking the government might be overthrown, he wrote:
The water can support the boat
And likewise can overturn it.
Chang Heng was offered an imperial post but declined. At last he accepted the sovereign's appointment as astronomer. Leaving the court, he then served as a district magistrate. Local bullies had been encroaching on others' properties. He had a hard time opposing them. About this time he wrote a long poem of four stanzas entitled the Four Annoyings regarding public management. He grieved at the weakness of the monarch in face of base courtiers. He wrote in elegant style with seven words to a line and set an example for later writers.
Three Capitals
When Tso Szu was a boy, he failed at literature and music. Later he became diligent. He wrote five volumes of poetry and some of his verses were regarded as excellent, surpassing all other poets except Pao Chao and Li Po. Of his ambitions, he wrote:
Looking on the left I intend to clear the Kiang
and Hsiang,
On the right to pacify the Chiangs and Hu.
After accomplishing this, I wouldn't accept
knighthood;
With thanks, I would retire to the country.
The elegance of this and other poems was overshadowed by his prosaic poems, especially the one on the Three Capitals, which took him 10 years to write. At first he was ridiculed by many scholars and poets. One of them said his manuscript could well be the stuff used for "covering winejars." Instead, it was a masterpiece and took Loyang by storm. The price of paper increased because so many households wanted to a copy.
Tso Szu described the Three Capitals of the Three Kingdoms—Shu, Wei and Woo—with great literary ornamentation. The total wordage is about 20,000. Shu gets 400 lines, Woo 700 and Wei 800. This is not balanced, perhaps purposely.
Peach Blossom Fountain
Tao Chien (365-427) was born and lived in a period of disorder. He sought refuge in nature and spent much time at Buddhism and Taoism. He once served as prefect of a small district for less than a hundred days. Retired to a private life of drinking and making verses, he maintained that to engage in bureaucracy was a great shame. He cultivated private land to support himself and his family but frequently was on the edge of starvation.
Such of his works as "A Statement on Retirement", a verse, and: "A Record of the Peach Blossom Fountain," a quasi-verse, have been recited by school children. From these two pieces and other poems, we get a picture of Tao Chien's ideal. When men cultivated the land and women spun, they got what they wanted and paid no tax. There was no government, no boundary and no city—only a village without calendar but with "four seasons to make up a year the natural way." The people were happy and had nothing to worry about. This Utopia of Tao Chien offers relaxation and pleasure. His influence on the intellectual class was almost as profound as that of Chu Yuan.
Ai Kiangnan
Among the numerous poets of the Six Dynasties, Shieh Tiao is generally taken as the representative of the southern group and Yu Hsin of the northern one. Yu Hsin (513-581) was son of a distinguished poet, Yu Chien-wu. When young, he studied hard and served as a military officer in Annan. Later he became an academician. Both father and son became prominent at the court of the Kingdom of Liang. Whenever a piece of Yu Hsin's work emerged, the capital Nanking was stirred. He wrote 256 poems but won even wider fame with a piece of rhymed prose entitled "Ai Kiangnan" The writing took place in his exile somewhere in the north after Nanking had been taken by rebels. Ai Kiangnan means deep melancholy in the region south of the Yangtze where Liang was located.
This rhymed prose work of more than 4,000 words describes the decline and fall of the kingdom in an area extending from north of Shangtung to south of Annan. It also tells of Liang's prosperity and peacefulness. He deplored the negligence of court officials, who merely talked and neglected defenses. When the rebellion broke out, resistance was impossible Yu Hsin took flight, saying he would seek aid. The rebellion was put down by another warlord, but Yu Hsin lamented the loss of his kingdom. At the end of the work, he speaks of his hopelessness and homelessness.
Cold Mountain
Han San or Cold Mountain (690-793?) climbed Mt. Tientai seeking shelter in the Cold Cliff. He met Shih Te or the Waif, who had served in the kitchen of the monastery there since boyhood. Once they lived together in a Soochow monastery called Hansan after the name of Cold Mountain. A quatrain written by a poet of the T'ang dynasty on that monastery and its bell became well known. The bell struck the fancy of the Japanese. They stole it during the war and later sent another bell to the monastery.
The Japanese seem not to have grasped the essential teachings of Cold Mountain and Shih Te. Otherwise there might have been no war. Cold Mountain tells of the fight against the Huns and makes the point that all life should be spared. His poetry is precise and clear.
Once living in Mount Cold everything is
finished,
So there are miscellaneous thoughts in mind.
At leisure, writing poems on the stone,
Let Fate go like a free boat.
This last line is similar to the last line of a poem by Shih Te, who shared Cold Mountain's philosophical point of view and detested the muddle of politics in this restless world.
Shih Te wrote just over 50 pieces of five-word verse. In one of these he said that when men live in a changing and unrealistic world, each seeks to be rich and noble.
They encroach on cultivated fields, properties
and mansions,
Thinking that their successors may inherit a
large fortune.
Both Cold Mountain and Shih Te preached peace of mind. In the Sung Dynasty, Wang An-shih wrote 20 verses imitating their style. One of these says:
When one luckily lives at leisure,
He would absurdly think of all sorts of things.
Yuan Fu, a great scholar-poet and once chancellor of Peking University under the Manchu regime, also wrote 20 pieces in the same style to criticize Wang An-shih. One of these says:
If one thinks often absurdly,
Then hell is just in front of him.