The end of the Han dynasty was marked by civil wars and peasant rebellions. In 221 A.D. the Han Empire was overthrown by a powerful house in the north which set up the Kingdom of Wei. A branch of the imperial house, refusing to submit to the usurpers, proclaimed the establishment of the Kingdom of Shu in present-day Szechwan. A third regime, the Kingdom of Wu, rose in the southeast. This triangular split of China, known as the Three-Kingdom period, was ended when another powerful house in the north liquidated the Wei, the Wu and the Shu and founded the Tsin dynasty.
During the Wei-Tsin period, Chinese literature underwent a series of radical changes in spirit, although there were no inventions in form. The dominant literary trend of this period was the development of the romantic, mystic and philosophic character of literature and the absence of social and utilitarian influences.
In order to understand this significant change, we must take into account the following points:
—The decline of Confucianism. The cause of this decline was the inability of Confucianism to command the belief of a new generation whose faith had been shaken by political chaos, social upheaval and a revival of legalism advocated by Ts'ao Ts'ao, the king of Wei. The decline of Confucianism had an important effect on literature. The Confucianist attitude toward literature was mainly ethical and utilitarian. As Confucianism lost its influence, the new literature put aside preoccupation with morality and social functions in favor of individualism, romanticism and mysticism.
—Taoist and Buddhist influences. The East Han period was one of political division and social insecurity. At home there were bitter struggles for supremacy between eunuchs and the relatives of empresses, and between powerful ministers. There was a continuous threat of barbarian invasions. The people's faith in the social order was shaken and they no longer turned to Confucianist moral principles for guidance. Instead, they sought a new religion. Such new currents of thought as Buddhism and the philosophy of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu received an impetus. These new beliefs were products of a troubled age. As reactions to moral discipline and political disorder, they opposed traditional institutions and ethical principles and preached absolute individual freedom and escapism as a way to some peace of mind.
—The awakening of human nature. Confucianists teach rites, good manners, social harmony and moral discipline. Taoism preaches serenity, non-action, a return to nature and the liberation of human nature.
Influenced by Taoist philosophy, men of letters of the Wei-Tsin period condemned the restraint of Confucianist moral principles and sought after individualism and escape from the bounds of human nature. Wei-Tsin literature tended toward romantic individualism. Because of the ravages of war, people sensed that life was transitory and turned to Taoism for the secret of becoming immortal. Hence the mystic character of Wei-Tsin literature.
The Pleiade of Chien An. Although Chien An was the reign name of the last emperor of the Han dynasty, it is justifiable to say that literature of the Chien An period belonged to Wei because Ts'ao and his two sons, Ts'ao P'i and Ts'ao Chih, were actually literary leaders of the period. Besides the three remarkable poets of the Ts'ao family, we should mention seven great names of the Chien An period: K'ung Jung, Ch'en Lin, Wang Ts'an, Hsu Kan, Yuan Yu, Yin Yang and Liu Chen.
—Poems in the style of Yueh Fu songs. Establishment of the Music Bureau by Emperor Wu of West Han turned a new page in the history of Chinese poetry. It promoted the development of the five-syllable verse and influenced Han poets to make their work in the popular vein. This phenomenon became still more evident during the Chien An period. Most poets wrote new songs adapted from old tunes. When they wrote five-syllable verses not intended to be set to music, they still were influenced by Yueh Fu songs in style and inspiration. An interplay of influences led to the popularization of poetic compositions and the elaboration of folk songs.
—Creation of the seven-syllable verse. Although the "Song of the Cypress Beam", a poem written collectively by Emperor Wu of West Han and his ministers, is said to be the first seven-syllable-line poem, this is doubtful. The seven-syllable verse was formally created only during the Wei period by Ts'ao P'i when he wrote the two "Songs of Yen".
—Preservation of realism. Despite the literary tendency toward romanticism and individualism during the Wei-Tsin period, some of the Chien An poets still preserved the social and realistic character of the Yueh Fu songs from which they drew inspiration. Living in an age of disorder and conflict, some had a tendency to depict the horrors of war and the misery of the people.
—Prelude to Tsin romanticism. Chien An poetry heralded Tsin romanticism. Many Chien An poems expressed the transitory nature and sorrows of human life and a longing for peace, happiness and immortality.
The Wei poets included the following:
Ts'ao P'i, the eldest son of Ts'ao Ts'ao. He destroyed the Han and became king of Wei. Like his father, Ts'ao P'i was a great poet, though less vigorous in inspiration. This poem entitled "The Song of Yen" is considered an ancestor of the seven-syllable-line poem.
Gloomy is the autumn wind, cool the weather.
Grass and trees wither, dewdrops become frost.
Swallows quit us, wild geese fly southward.
Methinks that traveling abroad
You must be grieved by home thoughts.
Why do you linger in another land?
Alone I remain in my empty chamber,
Forever pining for you in sadness.
Unconsciously tears soak my upper garment and my skirt.
On my lute I give the note Shang,
Softly singing a short, short song.
The bright moon shines on my bed.
The stars move toward the west, the night advances.
From afar, the Cowherd and the Weaving Maid stare at each other,
Why should you alone be kept away by the river and bridge?
Ts'ao Chih. The greatest poet of the Ts'ao family, Ts'ao Chih, a younger brother of Ts'ao P'i, was ill-fated. Jealous of such talent, his brother deprived him of all public offices and robbed him of his ladylove. Ts'ao Chih left us some 40 poems as well as 55 poems imitative of Yueh Fu songs in which he expressed his sorrow and disillusionment. In "Elegy" he compares man to a leaf of grass forever separated from its root.
Alas! why in this world should it be?
A human being is like a leaf of grass borne by the wind
And forever separated from the root.
In the wind it drifts.
Unceasingly, day and night,
Traversing seven fields from the east to the west
And nine from the south to the north.
With the sudden rise of a whirlwind,
It is borne into the clouds.
Hoping to reach the end of the celestial road,
It suddenly sinks into a fountain.
Once more lifted therefrom by a gale,
It is carried to the field,
To the north instead of south,
To the east instead of west.
Wafted far and wide, to what does it cling,
Now appearing, now disappearing?
It flies over eight ponds
And five mountains,
Forever shifting and moving, never in a fixed place.
Who knows its hardships?
It wishes to be a herb in the forest
To be burned in autumn by wild fire.
Not that burning hurts not,
It only wishes to be attached to the root.
Wang Ts'an. One of the Pleiade of Chien An, he followed Ts'ao Ts'ao in invading the kingdom of Wu in 216 and died the following year. He had lived under the last emperor of Han during the period of hostilities. Consequently many of his poems reflect the horrors of war.
Lamentation
The western capital was in disorder,
Ravaged by tigers and wolves.
Abandoning the Central Empire,
I set out for the barbarian region of the south,
In front of me my relatives lament,
My friends wish to retain me.
On the road I see nothing
But white bones covering the plain.
By the roadside was a starving woman
Abandoning her child among the grass.
Hearing his cries and sobs,
She wept without returning to him.
"Knowing not where my own life will end,
How to save us both?"
As I could not hear to listen to her,
I mounted my horse and left.
I set out for Paling in the south
And turned back to look at Ch'ang An.
Then I understood the author of Hsia Ch'uan,
Sighing and broken-hearted.
Liu Chen. He was a confidant of Ts'ao Ts'ao and highly esteemed by both Ts'ao Ts'ao and his elder son, Ts'ao P'i. One day Ts'ao P'i treated a group of writers to a feast and had his wife appear. All the guests knelt down except Liu Chen. Offended, Ts'ao P'i wanted to put him to death but finally punished him with a compulsory labor sentence. In this poem Liu Chen expresses himself with haughty melancholy.
The Pine
The pine stands straight on the hill,
The wind howls furiously in the valley.
How strong is the wind!
How obstinate the pine!
Cruel are the ice and frost,
But all year long the pine remains straight.
With such a character,
Can it submit to cold and freezing?
Chi K'ang. A native of Anhwei, Chi K'ang (223-262) is a haughty hermit. A devoted Taoist, he opposes rites and moral discipline and is a great lover of freedom and nature. He excels in four-syllable verses.
A small, small river
Flows by, rippling.
A cypress boat we pole,
Now gliding, now standing still.
Softly we sing ill the wind,
To the rhythm of the slow beating of the oar.
Letting loose the paddle, thrusting the pole into the water,
All year long we lead a vagrant life, joyously.
Of course Tao Yuan-ming is the greatest of all the Wei-Tsin poets. He has been considered separately in an article in the August issue of the Free China Review last year.
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Correction
Lines were transposed in a poem, "Nameless", which appeared under the general title Nostalgia and Remembrance in last November's issue. This is the poem in corrected form:
Nameless
You come without shadow,
You leave with no trace;
Yet the still candle of my heart
Flickers and moves
—Are you wind?
You laugh without sound,
You cry with no noise;
Yet the bright moon of my spirit
Dims and darkens
—Are you could?