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The Miscellanea of I-shan: A Little-Known, Work of Li Shang-Yin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

Extract

“Li Shang-Yin (T. I-shan ) A.D. 813–858. A native of Ho-nei in Honan. Graduated as chin shih in 837. Eose to be a Reader in the Han-lin College, and distinguished himself as a poet and a scholar.” (Giles, Biographical Dictionary, 1188.)

“ Li' Shang-yin. A poet and miscellanist.” (Mayers, Chinese Reader's Manual, 364.)

Wang An-shih (Giles, BD., 2134) (A.D. 1021–1086) is reputed to have said that of all the men of the T'ang period the only one capable of fully appreciating the great Tu Fu was this same Li Shang-yin.

Born in A.D. 813, he lived during the reigns of no fewer than six sovereigns of the T'ang Dynasty and died some ten years after the birth of Alfred the Great. According to the T'ang ts'ai tzŭin his early days he called himself Yü-ch'i Tzŭ or Yü-ch'i Shêng . He wrote in a style of his own which later became known as the hsi-k'un style from the fact that Yang I (Giles, BD., 2387) and others of the Sung Dynasty including Liu Yün-shih made a collection of their poems all in the style of Shang-yin and published it under the title Hsi k'un ch'ang ch'ou chi.

Type
Papers Contributed
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1930

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References

page757 note 1

page758 note 1 T'ang ts'ai tzŭ has says the two are synonymous.

page758 note 2 In former times a collection of 144 works was made by a recluse of T'aoyüan and to this compilation were added twenty volumes during the reign of Ch'ien Lung (1736–1796). The date of the original compilation is not known.

page760 note 1 Too well-fed to fight.

page760 note 2 i.e. “ Classics ” or possibly Buddhist Sutras.

page760 note 3 Peculiar to military officials.

page761 note 1 The wealthy are respected and loss of wealth involves loss of respect.

page761 note 2 Cf. 30, 3, 4, characteristics of filial piety.

page765 note 1 Lit. a screen between what is said and what is heard.

page765 note 2 T'ai Kung, a high state official, retired into exile to avoid the tyranny of Chou Hsin, last ruler of the Hsia Dynasty. Years later Wên Wang, founder of the Chou Dynasty which overthrew the Hsia (1122 B.C.), saw T'ai Kung (who was then eighty years old) fishing and invited him to become his chief adviser.

page766 note 1 Chestnuts and lichees are luxuries.

page766 note 2 This refers to the bird-like sound of women's voices.

page766 note 3 Leisure to enjoy literature and music.

page767 note 1 It is not a prerogative of the village magistrate to have the road cleared for his chair.

page769 note 1 The call of the magpie denotes good luck.

page773 note 1 i.e. claim the privileges of a guest.

page774 note 1 Or a guest who does not drink.

page774 note 2 Guessing games to encourage drinking were (and are) common in many forms, the penalty for an error being to drink a cup of wine.

page775 note 1 Lit. three heads and two faces.

page776 note 1 ═ songs, “ ditties.” , also called , a scholar of the Yuan Dynasty, wrote a collection of rhymes and songs with the title .

page778 note 1 Curses are apt to light upon the person pointed at and an angry man beating his own breast inadvertently indicates himself as the object of his curses.