User:Kosigrim/CaiWenji-poems

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Hu-Jia Eighteen Time poem

Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute ("Hujia Shiba Pai" 胡笳十八拍) are songs and poems accompanied by 18 scenes painted on a handscroll, commissioned by the Chinese Emperor Gaozong of Song 高宗 (1107-1287).

[edit] Epitome

'Abduction' of Cai Wenji. Nomads armed with bows and their mounts have two different forms of horse-armour (14th century painting replica of 8th century original, Metropolitan Mus., Dillon Fund 1973.120.3, NY)^[1]

Cai Wenji departure from China. One of the scrolls in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Courtesy of the Photo Library Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York^[2]

Poet and composer Cai Yan (Ts'ai Yen), courtesy name Wenji 蔡文姬 (also Ts'ai Wen-Chi, Cai Wenji), was the daughter of a prominent Eastern Han man of letters, Cai Yong (Cài Yōng, Chinese: 蔡邕), courtesy name Pojie (133-192 CE). The family resided in Yu Perfecture, Chenliu Commandery, in what is now eastern Henan Province. Cai Wenji was born shortly before 178 CE, and was married at the age of sixteen according to the East Asian age reckoning (corresponding to the age of 15 in Western reckoning) to Wei Zhongdao in 192 CE. Zhongdao died soon after the wedding, without any offspring^[3]. 194-5 CE brought Xiongnu nomads into the Chinese capital and Cai Wenji was taken, along with other hostages, into the frontier. During her captivity, she became the wife of the Zuoxianwang ('Leftside Virtuous King' or 'Wise King of the Left')^[4], and bore him two sons. It was not until twelve years later that Cao Cao (曹操, also Ts'ao Ts'ao, 155 CE-220 CE), a minister, ransomed her in the name of her father, who had already died before her capture. When Cai Wenji returned to China, she left her children behind in the frontier.

[edit] Historical sequel

Anonymous painting of Cai Wenji and her Xiongnu husband (Zuoxianwang) dated from the Southern Song Dynasty(文姬归汉图). They are riding their horses along, each holding one of their sons. The expression on Cai Wenji's face appears rather fulfilled, peaceful and content, while the husband was turning his head back in farewell.

A number of poems have been written to immortalize Cai Wenji's life story including her own^[5]. Liu Shang (c. AD 770), wrote a poem about Cai Wenji called "Hujia Shiba Pai" 胡笳十八拍 ("Eighteen Songs on a Nomad Flute")^[6]. Liu Shang's poem accompaned by 18 scenes painted on a handscroll was commissioned by the first emperor of the Emperor Gaozong of Song 高宗 (1107-1187). Four fragments, presumed to be of the original, are in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, while the earliest complete copy, apparently from the fourteenth century and formerly in the C. C. Wang collection^[7], resides in the Metropolitan Museum of Art; these were published by the museum in 1974 in a book entitled Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute^[8].

[edit] Allegorical device

Chinese allegorical devices as defined by Erich Auerbach^[9] are: something real and historical which announces something else that is also real and historical. The relation between the two events is related by an accord or similarity^[10]. There are obvious parallels between Cai Wenji's story and that of Gaozong's mother, the Empress Dowager Wei (衛太后), who was captured along with the rest of the imperial clan and held hostage in the north. She was not released until a peace treaty was concluded between the Song (Pinyin) and the Jurchen in 1142. This type of allegorical device was even used as recently as the Cultural Revolution (1966-75) when the virtuous Ming Dynasty official Hai Rui (1514-1587) was used as a figure for Mao Zedong (1893-1976). Hence, Chinese allegorical devices do not necessarily rely on a fictitious text, as those in the Western tradition^[11].

[edit] Contemporaries

Despite its allegorical development derived from Cai Wenji's story, her image today reverberates primarily with the feeling of sorrow. Cai Wenji wrote:

♦ My dwelling is often covered by frost and snow...//

♦ I lost no time in throwing eager questions

♦ Only to find that the guests were not from my home town.

and inspires contemporary artists to keep portraying her past (see Cai Wenji through the eyes of the artist Wang Zhong Qing 王秒清):

Cai Wenji 蔡文姬 #1	Cai Wenji 蔡文姬 #2	Cai Wenji 蔡文姬 #3	Cai Wenji 蔡文姬 #4
Cai Wenji 蔡文姬 #5	Cai Wenji 蔡文姬 #6	Cai Wenji 蔡文姬 #7	Cai Wenji 蔡文姬 #8
Cai Wenji 蔡文姬 #9	Cai Wenji 蔡文姬 #10	Cai Wenji 蔡文姬 #11	Cai Wenji 蔡文姬 #12
Cai Wenji 蔡文姬 #13	Cai Wenji 蔡文姬 #14	Cai Wenji 蔡文姬 #15	Cai Wenji 蔡文姬 #16
Cai Wenji 蔡文姬 #17	Cai Wenji 蔡文姬 #18

[edit] See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Metropolitan Museum of Art

• List of museums
• List of notable museums and galleries
• Art museum
• Virtual Library museums pages
• List of museums and cultural institutions in New York City
• School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
• Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts

[edit] References