Chronology, Dating, Protagonists, and Conventions
1 Chronology of Chinese Textual History
|
Shang 商 |
17th cent. BCE–1046? BCE |
||
|
Zhou 周 |
Western Zhou 西周 |
1046?–771 BCE |
|
|
Eastern Zhou 東周 Spring and Autumn Period 春秋 Warring States Period 戰國 |
770–256 BCE 770–476 BCE 475–221 BCE |
||
|
Qin 秦 |
221–206 BCE |
||
|
Han 漢 |
Western Han 西漢 |
206 BCE–8 CE |
|
|
Xin 新 |
9–23 |
||
|
Eastern Han 東漢 |
25–220 |
||
|
Three Kingdoms 三國 |
Wei 魏 |
220–265 |
|
|
Shu 蜀 |
221–263 |
||
|
Wu 吳 |
222–280 |
||
|
Western Jin 西晉 |
265–317 |
||
|
Eastern Jin 東晉 |
317–420 |
||
|
Northern and Southern Dynasties 南北朝 |
Southern Dynasties 南朝 |
Song 宋 |
420–479 |
|
Qi 齊 |
479–502 |
||
|
Liang 梁 |
502–557 |
||
|
Chen 陳 |
557–589 |
||
|
Northern Dynasties 北朝 |
Northern Wei 北魏 |
386–534 |
|
|
Eastern Wei 東魏 |
534–550 |
||
|
Northern Qi 北齊 |
550–577 |
||
|
Western Wei 西魏 |
535–556 |
||
|
Northern Zhou 北周 |
557–581 |
||
|
Sui 隋 |
581–618 |
||
|
Tang 唐 |
618–907 |
||
|
Five Dynasties 五代 |
Later Liang 後梁 |
907–923 |
|
|
Later Tang 後唐 |
923–936 |
||
|
Later Jin 後晉 |
936–947 |
||
|
Later Han 後漢 |
947–950 |
||
|
Later Zhou 後周 |
951–960 |
||
|
Song 宋 |
Northern Song 北宋 |
960–1127 |
|
|
Southern Song 南宋 |
1127–1279 |
||
|
Liao 遼 |
907–1125 |
||
|
Jin 金 |
1115–1234 |
||
|
Yuan 元 |
1206–1368 |
||
|
Ming 明 |
1368–1644 |
||
|
Qing 清 |
1616–1911 |
||
In this book, all years refer to the Common Era (CE) period, unless noted otherwise.
2 Emperors of the Northern Song Dynasty
|
Title |
Dates |
Reign dates (with selected reign periods) |
|---|---|---|
|
Taizu 太祖 |
927–976 |
960–976 |
|
Taizong 太宗 |
939–997 |
976–997 Taiping Xingguo 太平興國 period, 976–984 |
|
Zhenzong 真宗 |
968–1022 |
997–1022 Jingde 景德, 1004–1007 |
|
Renzong 仁宗 |
1010–1063 |
1022–1063 Qingli 慶曆, 1041–1048 |
|
Yingzong 英宗 |
1032–1067 |
1063–1067 |
|
Shenzong 神宗 |
1048–1085 |
1067–1085 Xining 熙寧, 1068–1077 |
|
Zhezong 哲宗 |
1076–1100 |
1085–1100 |
|
Huizong 徽宗 |
1082–1135 |
1100–1125 … Chongning 崇寧, 1102–1106 Daguan 大觀, 1107–1110 Zhenghe 政和, 1111–1117 … Xuanhe 宣和, 1119–1125 |
|
Qinzong 欽宗 |
1100–1156 |
1125–1127 Jingkang 靖康, 1126–1127 |
3 Important Protagonists Mentioned in This Book
|
Name |
Dates |
Selective regional affiliations |
|---|---|---|
|
Lu Yu 陸羽 |
ca. 733–805 |
Hubei Jingling 湖北竟陵 (Tianmen 天門) |
|
Lu Tong 盧仝 |
?–835 |
Henan Jiyuan 河南濟源 |
|
Zequan 則全 |
?–1045 |
? |
|
Ding Wei 丁謂 |
966–1037 |
Jiangsu Suzhou Changzhou 江蘇蘇州長洲 |
|
Fan Zhongyan 范仲淹 |
989–1052 |
Jiangsu Suzhou Wuxian 吳縣 |
|
Mei Yaochen 梅堯臣 |
1002–1060 |
Anhui Xuancheng 安徽宣城 |
|
Wen Yanbo 文彥博 |
1006–1097 |
Shanxi Fenzhou 山西汾州 |
|
Ouyang Xiu 歐陽修 |
1007–1072 |
Jiangxi Ji’an Luling 江西吉安盧陵 |
|
Cai Xiang 蔡襄 |
1012–1067 |
Fujian Xianyou 福建仙遊 |
|
Shen Zun 沈遵 |
active 1040s–1060s or 1070s |
Jiangsu Wuxi Jiangyin 無錫江陰 |
|
Sima Guang 司馬光 |
1019–1086 |
Shanxi Xiaxian 夏縣 |
|
Wang Anshi 王安石 |
1021–1086 |
Jiangxi Fuzhou Linchuan 撫州臨川 |
|
Su Shi 蘇軾 |
1036–1101 |
Sichuan Meishan 四川眉山 |
|
Su Che 蘇轍 |
1039–1112 |
Sichuan Meishan |
|
Zhu Changwen 朱長文 |
1039–1098 |
Jiangsu Suzhou Wuxian |
|
Huang Tingjian 黃庭堅 |
1045–1105 |
Jiangxi Hongzhou Fenning 洪州分寧 (Jiujiang 九江) |
|
Cao Zhi 曹摭 |
active 11th century |
Henan Kaifeng 開封 |
|
Cai Jing 蔡京 |
1047–1126 |
Fujian Xianyou |
|
Li Gonglin 李公麟 |
ca. 1049–1106 |
Anhui Shuzhou Tongcheng 舒州桐城 |
|
Mi Fu 米芾 |
1051–1107 |
Jiangsu Suzhou Wuzhong 吳中 |
|
Hong Chu 洪芻 |
ca. 1064–? |
Jiangxi Nanchang 南昌 |
|
Ye Tinggui 葉廷珪 |
active ca. 1115 |
Fujian Jian’ou 建甌 |
|
Chen Jing 陳敬 |
?, active Southern Song period |
Sichuan |
|
Lu You 陸游 |
1125–1209 |
Zhejiang Shaoxing Shanyin 浙江紹興山陰 |
|
Fan Chengda 范成大 |
1126–1193 |
Jiangsu Suzhou Wuxian |
|
Xin Qiji 辛棄疾 |
1140–1207 |
Shandong Ji’nan Licheng 山東濟南歷城 |
4 An Exemplary Table and Notes on Interpreting the Prosody of Chinese Literary Works with Attention to Rhyme, Euphony, and Tonal Patterns (ping/ze)
|
Author, title, content, tonal pattern(s), and rhyme(s) of the Chinese literary work (where indicated) |
English translation |
Line |
|---|---|---|
|
蘇軾《汲江煎茶》 |
Su Shi, Brewing Tea by Drawing Water from the River |
|
|
活水還須活火烹 (-aeng) | | — — | | — |
… |
1 |
|
自臨釣石取深清 (-aeng) (|) — | | | — — |
2 |
|
|
… |
… |
|
|
坐聽荒城長短更② (-aeng) | | — — (—) | — |
8 |
|
|
[Further explanations of the rhyme scheme(s) of the poem are provided in this grid.] |
①, ②, …: these numbers indicate words and phrases of the original Chinese literary work, which will be further explained underneath the table. Readers who are not interested in the technical analysis of classical Chinese language, literary allusions, and prosody may choose to skip these sections.
Every such table contains an original Chinese literary work alongside its English translation. Most of the Chinese characters used in this book will appear in these tables, the Glossary, and the Appendix, but not in the main text. The above literary work put in a table is one of the examples cited in the main text. It is a heptasyllabic regulated-verse poem (lüshi), which is composed of two quatrains of equal length (lines 1–4 the first quatrain, and lines 5–8 the second quatrain), with every two lines considered a unit, or “couplet.” The grammatical structure of the second and third couplets (lines 3–4 and 5–6) should be parallel. The final character of every even line should rhyme with the level tones (pingsheng). There are several types of Chinese poems presented in this book.
The prosody of the poems:
Symbols of “—” and “|” indicate the level tone and oblique tone (zesheng; including shangsheng, qusheng, and rusheng), respectively, of individual characters. A level tone typically presents a longer sound or beat, while an oblique tone generates a shorter beat, characterized by a relatively shorter or abrupt ending sound. These tonal differences are still noticeable, at the present time, to people who have acquired sufficient training in southern Chinese topolects, such as Cantonese and Hokkien. Specific tonal patterns (tones divided into these two registers of ping/ze) have been well developed since the Tang period for the quatrains (jueju), of five or seven characters per line, and for the regulated verse (lüshi), which comprises eight lines of five or seven characters per line. There is, accordingly, a specified tonal requirement for each character in a poem.1 Alternating clusters of level and oblique tones present unique rhythms. We can read aloud the first tonal cluster “| | — —” in line 1 of the above poem as “ze ze ping ping” and interpret its rhythm as “short short long long,” while the subsequent cluster “| | —” can be read as “ze ze ping” and interpreted as “short short long.” Certain variations are allowed, provided that they do not interfere with the tonal beauty of the entire literary work.2 A position that should be filled with what should be a level-toned character in a given pattern but which is instead filled by one with an oblique tone appears in the following sections in the format: (|); conversely, a position that should be filled with a level-toned character where an oblique tone is called for appears in the format: (—). The rhymes I refer to are based on the Middle Chinese transcription list in the appendix of the Baxter-Sagart Old Chinese reconstruction.3 William Baxter and Laurent Sagart aim not for exact reconstructions of the sounds of individual characters, but attempt to demonstrate the phonetic relationships of their pronunciations as recorded in the Expanded Rhymes (Guangyun) and the Explanations of the Classics (Jingdian shiwen).4 Thus, in the main text of this book we should not take their reconstructed rhymes as exact sounds. Occasionally their reconstructions are inconsistent, but such reconstructions and the identification of the rhyme categories (yunbu) will indicate groupings of perfect or imperfect rhymes that were intended by the original writers. Groups of words with slant rhymes, assonance, and euphonic qualities, which share similar sounds, frequently appear in poems that do not require strict prosodic patterns, and it is evident that writers often mixed these groups to construct melodically pleasant patterns, which were not strictly rhymed in their own times.5
See Wang Li 1979, 1–97. See also Cai Zong-qi 2008b, 169–72; 2008c, 387–92; 2014; 2015c.
Wang Li 1979, 63–71.
Baxter and Sagart 2014, 327–78. For a more updated and comprehensive list, see the list in Baxter-Sagart Old Chinese reconstruction, version 1.1 (September 20, 2014).
See Baxter and Sagart 2014. Wang Li 1981, 55–75. Tang Zuofan 1991, 75–202. Goh 2015.
Cai Zong-qi 2008a, 6.