Fu (poetry)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Fu (poetry)
Liangyuan Gathering.jpg
Han dynasty literary gathering at the court of Liu Wu, Prince of Liang
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese





Revolving and rushing, a glistening halo,
front and rear conjoined and connected.
Lofty and lofty, lifted and lifted,
roiling and roiling, raging and raging,
pressing and pressing, climbing and climbing,
a layered fortress of multiplied strength,
doubled and diverse like the lines of troops.
Rumbling and roaring, booming and crashing,
pushing and turning, surging and rolling –
truly, it cannot be withstood!

Description of a tidal bore,
"Seven Stimuli", Mei Sheng (c. 141 BC)[2]




Han dynasty[edit]

Western Han[edit]

Fu achieved its greatest prominence during the early Han dynasty. Jia Yi's "Fu on the Owl", written around 170 BC, was composed following on the third year of his exile to Changsha:[11] the "Fu on the Owl" uses much of the style of the Li Sao and other songs of the Verses of Chu. "Fu on the Owl", besides being the earliest known fu, is unusual in the author's extended use of philosophical reflection upon his own situation in life.[10]

Emperor Wu of Han ascended the throne in 141 BC, and his 54-year reign is considered the golden age of "grand fu" (Chinese: 大賦; pinyin: dàfù).[9] Emperor Wu summoned famous fu writers to the imperial court in Chang'an, where many of them composed and presented fu to the entire court.[9] The earliest grand fu of Emperor Wu's reign is "Seven Stimuli" (Chinese: 七發; pinyin: Qī fā), by Mei Sheng (Chinese: 枚乘; d. 140 BC).[9] In "Seven Stimuli", Mei Sheng acts as a Warring States-style travelling orator who tries to cure a Chu prince of an illness caused by overindulgence in sensual pleasures by pushing his senses to their limits with his fu descriptions.[2]

In the soil:

Cinnabar, azurite, ocher, white clay,
Orpiment, milky quartz,
Tin, prase, gold, and silver,
In manifold hues glisten and glitter,
Shining and sparkling like dragon scales.

Of stones there are:

Red jade, rose stone,
Orbed jades, vulcan stone,
Aculith, dark polishing stone,
Quartz, and the warrior rock.
Excerpt from "Fu on the Excursion Hunt of the Son of Heaven", Sima Xiangru (c. 135 BC)[12]


The grand fu of the Western Han dynasty were read and recited as celebrations of pure poetic delight, and were the first pieces of Chinese literature to fuse both unrestrained entertainment and moral admonitions together in single works.[14] However, after the reign of Emperor Wu, his court culture began to be criticized as having placed undue emphasis on the grandiose language in fu and therefore having missed opportunities to encourage moral restraint.[15] The most prominent critic of "grand fu" was the other great fu writer of the Han dynasty: Yang Xiong.[15] As a youth, Yang was an admirer and imitator of Sima Xiangru's fu, but later came to disapprove of grand fu.[15] Yang believed that the original purpose of fu was to "indirectly admonish" (Chinese: ; pinyin: fèng), but that the extended rhetorical arguments and complex vocabulary used in grand fu caused their hearers and readers to marvel at their aesthetic beauty while missing their moral messages.[15] Yang juxtaposed early Han dynasty fu with the fu-like expositions in the Classic of Poetry, saying that while those in the Poetry provided moral standards, the fu of the Han poets "led to excess".[15] While known as one of the fu masters of the Han dynasty, Yang's fu are generally known for their focus on admonishing readers and listeners to uphold moral values.[13]

The august house is resplendent, as if dwelling in Heaven;
from a myriad directions they come, gathering like stars.
The honored and favored fan their fires of lust even hotter;
all guard profit without cease.
When a front coach overturns not far ahead,
the rear teams dash forward, racing to catch up.
They exhaust their multifarious craft on terraces and towers,
They waste fine grain on birds and beasts,
while those below eat chaff and husks without the kernels.
They grandly bestow liberal generosity on fawning flatterers,
but in impeaching loyal protest, they are swift and sure.

Criticizing corrupt eunuchs and officials,
"Fu on Recounting a Journey", Cai Yong (AD 159)[16]

Eastern Han[edit]

Two of the most famous fu writers of the Eastern Han period were Zhang Heng and Cai Yong. Among Zhang Heng's large corpus of writings are a significant number of fu poems, which are the first to have been written in the shorter style that became typical of post-Han fu.[17] Zhang's earliest known fu is "Fu on the Hot Springs" (Chinese: 溫泉賦; pinyin: Wēnquán fù), which describes the hot springs (currently Huaqing Pool) at Mount Li which famously later became a favorite of Imperial Concubine Yang during the Tang dynasty.[17] "Fu on the Two Metropolises" (Chinese: 二京賦; pinyin: Èr jīng fù) is considered Zhang's masterpiece.[18] Zhang spent ten years gathering material for the fu, a response to an earlier fu by Ban Gu that is a poetic comparison between the two capitals of the Han dynasty: Luoyang and Chang'an.[18] Zhang's fu is highly satirical and cleverly mocks many aspects of the Western Han period, including Emperor Wu himself.[19] The piece contains long passages colorfully describing life in the two capitals in great detail, including the entertainment areas.[20]

Cai Yong, like Zhang Heng, was a prolific writer in addition to his mathematical, astronomical, and musical interests.[21] In AD 159, Cai was summoned to Chang'an to perform on the Chinese zither for the imperial court, but became ill shortly before arriving and returned to his home.[21] Cai composed a poetic record of his journey in "Fu on Recounting a Journey" (Chinese: 述行賦; pinyin: Shù xíng fù), his most well-known fu.[21] In "Fu on Recounting a Journey", Cai cites examples of treacherous and dishonest rulers and officials from Chinese history, then criticizes the eunuchs of the capital for similar crimes.[16]

A marvelous bird from the Western Regions,
manifests a wondrous natural beauty.
It embodies the sublime substance of the metal essence,
embodies the shining brilliance of fire's power.
Gifted with wit and acuity, it is able to speak;
intelligent and bright, it can perceive the imperceptible.
Thus, it plays and sports on lofty peaks,
nests and perches in secluded vales.
Whenever it flies, it does not land at random;
It has reddish-black feet, a vermilion beak,
green coat, azure mantle.
Bright and colorful, lovely in appearance,
It chitters and chatters in a lovely voice.

Opening lines, "Fu on the Parrot", Mi Heng[22]


Six Dynasties[edit]

During the Six Dynasties period, fu remained a major part of contemporary poetry, although shi poetry was gradually increasing in popularity.[23] Six Dynasties fu are generally much shorter and less extravagant than Han dynasty fu, likely due to a tradition of composing works entirely in parallel couplets that arose during the period.[23] While lyrical fu and "fu on things" had been starkly different forms in the Han dynasty, after the 2nd century AD the distinction mostly disappeared.[23] Although the extravagant fu style of the Han mostly disappeared, "fu on things" continued to be widely written.

Xie Lingyun is one of the best-known poets of the entire Six Dynasties period, second only to Tao Yuanming. In contrast to his older contemporary Tao, Xie is known for the difficult language, dense allusions, and frequent parallelisms of his poetry.[24] Xie's greatest fu is "Fu on Dwelling in the Mountains" (Chinese: 山居賦; pinyin: Shān jū fù), a Han-style "grand fu" describing Xie's personal estate that borrows its style from the famous "Fu on the Imperial Park" by Sima Xiangru.[25] Like classical Han fu, the poem uses a large number of obscure and rare characters, but "Fu on Dwelling in the Mountains" is unique in that Xie included his own annotations to the poem,[25] without which the poem would be nearly incomprehensible.

During the Liang dynasty, fu continued to be a popular form of literature, though it began to merge with the popular five- and seven-syllable poetry forms, which completely eclipsed fu during the Tang dynasty.[26] Some fu pieces, such as Shen Yue's "Fu on Dwelling in the Suburbs" (Chinese: 郊居賦; pinyin: Jiāo jū fù), an homage to Xie Lingyun's "Fu on Dwelling in the Mountains", followed the traditional forms and subjects of classical fu, but an increasing number did not.[26] "Fu on Lotus-picking" (Chinese: 採蓮賦; pinyin: Cǎi lián fù), by Xiao Gang (later Emperor Jianwen of Liang), is a short, lyrical fu that mixes freely with popular lyric poetry,[26] and portrayed southern China as a romantic land of pleasure and sensuality.[27] Lotus-picking was an activity traditionally associated with peasant women, but in the early 5th century became a popular topic in fu and poetry.[27]

Yu Xin is generally considered the last great fu poet of Chinese history.[28] Yu, like Yan Zhitui, was born in the south but forced to relocate to northern China after the south's defeat, and spent the rest of his career writing of the loss of the south as a loss of an entire culture and way of life.[29] Yu's most famous piece is "Fu on Lamenting the South" (Chinese: 哀江南賦; pinyin: Āi Jiāngnán fù), in which he describes his life's experiences in the context of the larger context of the destruction of the south and its culture.[29]

Tang and Song dynasties[edit]

The fu genre changed rapidly during the Tang dynasty. During the early Tang, a new form of fu called "regulated fu" (Chinese: 律賦; pinyin: lǜfù) supplanted the original form.[30] "Regulated fu" had strict rules of form and expression, and required the use of consistent rhymes throughout each piece.[30] Additionally, rules were created to govern the arrangement of tones in each poem, as the introduction of Buddhist texts written in Sanskrit and Pali had stimulated the Chinese to methodical study of their own language and the identification of the four tones of Middle Chinese. Beginning in the Tang dynasty, these "regulated fu" were required for the composition sections of the imperial examinations.[30] Tang writers added new topics to the traditional subjects of fu, such as purely moral topics or scenes from Chinese antiquity.[30] The "parallel fu" (Chinese: 駢賦; pinyin: piānfù) was another variant of the fu developed in the Tang, and was only used for rhetorical compositions.[31]

In 826, Tang poet Du Mu's poem "Fu on E-pang Palace" (Chinese: 阿房宫賦; pinyin: Ēpáng gōng fù)[n 1] laid the foundation for a new form of fu called "prose fu" (Chinese: 文賦; pinyin: wénfù), in which prose is freely rhymed.[31] This form of fu became the dominant fu form during the late Tang and the Song dynasty.[31] By the 9th and 10th centuries, traditional fu had become mainly historical pursuits, and were largely read and copied because of their inclusion on the imperial examinations.[32]


"Fu on things"[edit]

Between 130–100 BC, Emperor Wu greatly expanded China's territory into Central Asia, northern Vietnam, and the Korean Peninsula through a series of military campaigns and invasions.[33] As the expansion progressed, a large number of foreign plants, animals, goods, and rarities were brought to the imperial capital at Chang'an.[33] Throughout the Han dynasty, court officials and poets often composed special fu called "fu on things" (Chinese: 詠物賦; pinyin: yǒngwù fù) on these new and unusual things, in which they described and catalogued extensively.[34] These "fu on things" became a major genre in fu poetry, and cover a vast number of instruments, objects, and phenomena.


"Now, as the time of darkness reaches its peak,
And harsh air is ascendant,
Scorching Creek dries up, Scalding Vale freezes,
Fire wells are extinguished, hot springs ice over,
Frothing pools no longer bubble, fiery winds do not rise.
On north-facing doors, panels are plastered;
And then, clouds rise on river and sea;
sand flies on northern deserts.
Unbroken vapors, piled up haze,
shroud the Sun, veil the clouds.
First sleet comes pattering down;
then snow, copiously cluttered, falls harder and harder."




Sociopolitical protest[edit]

Part of the legacy associated with the fu is its use as a form of sociopolitical protest, such as the theme of the loyal minister who has been unjustly exiled by the ruler or those in power at the court, rather than receiving the promotion and respect which he truly deserves. In the Verses of Chu, one of the works attributed to Qu Yuan is the "Li Sao", which is one of the earliest known works in this tradition, both as ancestral[42] to the fu as well as its incorporation of political criticism as a theme of poetry.[43] The theme of unjust exile is related to the development of Xiaoxiang poetry, or the poetry stylistically or thematically based upon lamenting the unjust exile of the poet, either directly, or allegorically through the use of the persona of a friend or historical figure (a safer course in the case of a poet-official who might be punished for any too blatant criticism of the current emperor).[44] During the Han Dynasty, along with the development of the fu stylistically, the idea that it incorporate political criticism through indirection and allegory also developed. Han Dynasty historian and author Ban Gu in his Book of Han pointedly refers to a fu by Qu Yuan as a literary example of the use of the theme of the loyal minister who has been unjustly exiled, rather than receiving the promotion and respect which he truly deserves. As Hellmut Wilhelm puts it: "...the Han fu can easily be classified into a limited number of types. All types have one feature in common: almost without exception they can be and have been interpreted as voicing criticism—either of the ruler, the ruler's behavior, or certain political acts or plans of the ruler; or of the court officials or the ruler's favorites; or, generally, of the lack of discrimination in the employment of officials. The few examples that are positive in tone recommend the authors or their peers for employment, or even contain specific political suggestions. In short, almost all fu have a political purport, and, in addition, almost all of them deal with the relationship between the ruler and his officials."[45] Seen in context, Ban Gu's discussion of Qu Yuan and the Chu sao style is less to the point of the actual evolutionary path of the fu and more to the point that the main purpose of the fu is political and social criticism through poetic indirection: thus, in fu, paradoxically, the "fantastic descriptions and an overflowing rhetoric...can be reduced to...restraint", as the sociopolitical criticism which was key to the fu was constrained within a very subtle, elaborately indirect, occasional, and allusive mode.[46]


Fu pieces comprise the first main category in the Wen Xuan (Selections of Refined Literature), an early Chinese literary anthology which is still extant.[47] The Selections collects all known fu pieces from the early Han dynasty to its compilation in the 6th century AD, during the Liang dynasty; it has since been the traditional source for studying classical fu.

In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor, scholar Chen Yuanlong compiled a collection of all known fu extant in his day, publishing his collection in 1706 as Collection of Fu Through the Ages (Chinese: 歷代賦彙; pinyin: Lìdài fù huì). Chen's Collection in total contains 4,155 fu.

See also[edit]




  4. ^ Gong (1997): 3.
  5. ^ Gong (1997): 5.
  6. ^ Gong (1997): 5–10.
  9. ^ a b c d e Kern (2010): 90.
  11. ^ Murck (2000): 16.
  12. ^ Gong (1997): 11.
  13. ^ a b Kern (2010): 89.
  14. ^ Kern (2010): 92-93.
  15. ^ a b c d e Kern (2010): 93.
  16. ^ a b Knechtges (2010): 157.
  17. ^ a b Knechtges (2010): 143.
  18. ^ a b Knechtges (2010): 144.
  19. ^ Knechtges (2010): 144-145.
  20. ^ Knechtges (2010): 145.
  21. ^ a b c Knechtges (2010): 156.
  22. ^ Knechtges (1996): 51.
  23. ^ a b c d e Idema and Haft (1997): 109.
  24. ^ Tian (2010): 235.
  25. ^ a b Tian (2010): 232.
  26. ^ a b c Tian (2010): 264.
  27. ^ a b Tian (2010): 267.
  28. ^ Idema and Haft (1997): 110.
  29. ^ a b Tian (2010): 270.
  30. ^ a b c d Owen (2010): 289.
  31. ^ a b c Owen (2010): 350.
  32. ^ Owen (2010): 361.
  33. ^ a b Kern (2010): 95.
  34. ^ Knechtges (2010): 118.
  35. ^ Knechtges (2010): 129.
  36. ^ Knechtges (2010): 149.
  37. ^ Knechtges (2010): 150.
  38. ^ Knechtges (1996): 23-25.
  39. ^ a b c Knechtges (2010): 170.
  40. ^ Knechtges (2010): 194.
  41. ^ Knechtges (2010): 193.
  43. ^ Davis (1970): xlvi-xlvii.
  44. ^ Davis (1970): xlviii
  45. ^ Wilhelm (1967 [1957]): 311.
  46. ^ Wilhelm (1967 [1957]): 312-314, quoting Sima Qian on Sima Xiangru.
  47. ^ Tian (2010): 255.
Works cited
  • Wilhelm, Hellmut (1967 [1957]). "The Scholar's Frustration: Notes on a Type of Fu", in Chinese Thought and Institutions, John K. Fairbank, editor. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.