Shenhua Yin, in early handbooks also called Diemeng You, Diemeng Yin⁴ and Quxu Yin,⁵ survives in 32 handbooks to 1914.⁶ The relationship with another title, Shenhua Qu, is unclear: this is given as an alternate title for a melody called Autumn Waters (Qiu Shui).⁷

This melody has the same basic theme as the other Shen Qi Mi Pu shangjiao mode piece, #60 Zhuangzhou Mengdie, and in fact the title was almost as popular through 1802 (29 compared to 33 handbooks). However, the melody found here was changed into (or exchanged for) a very new melody around 1600; after this the title refers to quite a different melody.

Modally Shenhua Yin is somewhat ambiguous. As with other shangjiao mode pieces, the main note is do (1, gong), played on the open first string. However, it starts on a sharpened do, emphasizing that at the beginning the mode is based on la treated as do. It then switches to do natural still based on la before moving the tonal center to do. This is something lost in later versions.

A quite new version of Shenhua Yin can be found in Zangchunwu Qinpu (1602). Instead of three sections it has two; the first ends in a harmonic section that becomes section 2 in later versions; the second section is very long. This seems to be the basis for most later versions of Shenhua Yin, which expanded considerably on it, generally having five to 12 sections. As suggested above, some of these are called Qiu Shui.

Qinyuan Xinchuan Quanbian (1670), after its Shenhua Yin, included an Old Shenhua (Gu Shenhua) with 38 sections (QQJC XI/419, after); it seems unrelated musically to the others and cannot be found in other handbooks.

Zhu Quan's preface to #60 Zhuangzhou Mengdie gives details of the famous story.

There is a recording by Xie Daoxiu of a standard later version of Shen Hua Yin, said to be from a lost Gugang Yipu⁸ (Guangdong school).

 
Original Preface ⁹

The Emaciated Immortal says

the flavor of this piece has the idea of gracefully casting off the dust and dregs (of society). (The player's) spirit and body all transform, and he imagines himself floating unconsciously among trees, springs and large hills, where bees and butterflies flutter about, and in forgetting (oneself) beyond the realm of objective existence.

 
Music
Three sections; titles are from Zheyin Shizi Qinpu¹⁰

(00.00) 1. Gracefully
(00.30) 2. Cast off the dust (of society)
(01.05) 3. The body transforms (into spirit)
(01.58) Piece ends (no harmonics indicated)

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Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. 神化引 Shenhua Yin references
25211.33 only 神化 shenhua: 變化神妙也。 Nothing about Zhuangzi.
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2. Shangjiao Mode (商角調 shangjiao diao)
For further information see Shenpin Shangjiao Yi and Modality in Early Ming Qin Tablature.
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3. Image
None yet selected
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4. 蝶夢吟 Dieming Yin and 蝶夢遊 Dieming You
34086.51 diemeng has the Zhuangzi story but nothing on music.
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5. 籧栩吟 Quxu Yin
In the story Zhuangzi is xuxuran (栩栩然) butterfly then ququran (籧籧然) Zhuangzi; (33299.33 蘧蘧然 has nothing on music and 27379. 籧 has nothing).
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6. Tracing 神化引 Shen Hua Yin
Zha's Guide 9/95/146 lists most of the 32 handbooks from 1425 to 1914. The tracing chart (not yet online) shows clearly that around 1600 the melody changed significantly; some of the later versions were called Qiu Shui (see next).
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7. Autumn Waters (秋水 Qiu Shui)
This title can be found in an early Ming dynasty melody list, but the earliest surviving tablature is the Qiu Shui published in 1647 (QQJC X/123); written under the title is "即神化曲 the same as Shenhua Qu". A reconstruction of this melody as published in 1647 is available in a silk string recording by Wang Duo. The Zha Guide 32/345/-- lists it in five handbooks from 1647 to 1876, but a related melody also exists throughout this period under the titles Shenhua Yin and Shenhua Cao; perhaps they should all be considered together. There are some modern recordings of it, apparently based on the 1876 Qiu Shui, but I am not sure whether this version is a handed down one or a reconstructed one.

Qiu Shui, like Shenhua Yin is in shangjiao mode, and in fact the first section of the 1647 Qiu Shui is clearly a version of the 1425 shangjiao modal prelude, with the first two of its nine sections being very similar to Section One of the Shenhua Yin published in 1589. However, beyond this the overall musical relationship to Shenhua Yin is not yet clear.

This Qiu Shui has no connection to Qiushui Nong, given as an alternative title for Dao Yi and, in one case, for Yueshang Cao.
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8. 古岡遺譜 Gugang Yipu
Although this is said to be a lost Ming dynasty handbook, some of whose melodies were preserved in the Guangdong school's Wuxue Shanfang Qinpu, I have as yet found little further information. See another reference.
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9. Original Chinese preface
See 神化引.
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10. Original Chinese section titles
These are:
    1. 飄然
    2. 塵脫
    3. 物化
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