Xiangfei Yuan

Tradition says that Emperor Yao gave his two daughters, E Huang and Nü Ying, to Shun. They became his "fei", which is variously translated as wife, concubine and consort. The two sisters sang their lament after Emperor Shun died. Their story was related in Biographies of Exemplary Women (Lienü Zhuan). And a temple in their honor on Junshan⁴ near Yueyang supposedly marks the spot where their tears speckled the local bamboo.⁵

There seems to have been an ancient tradition of using this theme for a qin melody. Yuefu Shiji has numerous lyrics on this theme in its qin melody section. Its prefaces include a quote from "Qin Cao" saying there were the melodies Xiangfei Yuan (Lament of the Xiang Concubines) and Xiang Furen (Xiang Consorts). In fact, Cai Yong's Qin Cao does not include any names on this theme, but the Monk Jueyue's Qinqu Pulu lists a Xiangfei Yuan, which it attributes to Nü Ying herself.

Versions of this melody survive in at least 18 handbooks from 1511 to 1961.⁶ The earliest surviving one, here in Taigu Yiyin, is very similar to the one still played today under the title Xiangjiang Yuan (Xiang River Lament).⁷

Note also that the longer and musically unrelated instrumental melody Cangwu Yuan has the same theme.

A handbook of 1828 says this was the melody "sent by Liang Yiniang in the Xiao Xiang region to Mr. Li during the five dynasties period."⁸ Liang Yiniang, as related in the Synthesis of Books and Illustrations (1726-8), lived during the Latter Zhou dynasty (north China, 951-960). She had an affair with a cousin; when it was discovered, he was driven off. But after she sent him a song, he asked his uncle for permission to marry her, and was successful.⁹

No other qin handbook makes this connection. The lyrics are not in the Yuefu Shiji, and none of the lyrics on this theme in Yuefu Shiji occurs in a surviving qin setting.¹⁰ On this matter the preface in Taigu Yiyin is silent, relating only the story of the two sisters, adding that their lament was later set to a string melody.¹¹

On the other hand, the middle of the second verse has lines that are almost identical to those of a poem called Xiangsi Yuan, by the mid-Tang dynasty female poet Li Ye.¹²

At one time this was commonly taught as a beginner's melody. My teacher Sun Yü-ch'in told me that, although it seemed very easy, it was in fact one of the most difficult to play well.

There is a silk string qin recording of the modern version, called Xiangjiang Yuan, by Tsar Teh-Yun; there are metal string recordings by Sun Yü-Ch'in, Li Fengyun and Li Kongyuan; none includes singing.

Original preface¹³

Books write that (Shun was) a bachelor. (Emperor) Yao gave his two daughters to him in marriage. The older was named E Huang, the younger Nü Ying. Shun then became emperor and (the two sisters) were called his two consorts. When Shun was hunting in the south he died in the wilds of Canglang. The two concubines cried for him. Their tears sprinkled the nearby bamboo, which then dried up and died. Later someone made this into an ensemble piece, Xiang Fei Yuan.

Music and Lyrics: One Section
- Divided here in three according to the syllabic structure (see numbers in brackets)¹⁴

1. (7+7) x 4
Falling flowers, falling leaves, falling and scattering;
with the setting sun I think of my lord, but don't see him.
Heartbreak, break-heart, heart about to break;
tears like pearls leave traces, then add even more traces.
A layer of white clouds in front of the green mountains;
another layer of white clouds behind the green mountains.
Green mountains, front and back, have white clouds;
the white clouds fly away, but the green mountains remain.

2. (5+5) x 10
I have just one heart;
there's no one with me to speak.
I'd like the wind to blow, and scatter the clouds;
so then I could complain to the moon at the edge of the sky.

I bring my qin up onto a high tower; ^*
the tower is high and filled with moonlight.
Feeling this love, my playing is not finished;
tears fall and a smooth as ice string breaks.
People say the Xiang River is deep;
but it cannot reach half of my love.
The sea is deep but in the end it has a bottom;
my love has no boundary or limit.

The man at the Xiang River's head.
his lady at the Xiang River's mouth.
Able to love but not to meet,
both drinking the Xiang River's water.
Dreaming of a spirit flying but unable to arrive,
what is lacking is only death.
To enter the gate of my love
is to know my love's bitterness.

3. (7+7) x 4
Everlasting love (means) everlasting remembrance;
even love cut short has no limit.
If from the start I'd known that I'd so fetter my heart,
how could I have not at the beginning avoided getting involved?
The Xiang River's water is blue, settled and clear;
but it does not reach half the depth of my love.
Always, after dreaming of meeting you,
I have felt unimaginable pain and distress.

Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. The numerous related entries include:

18223.27 湘妃 Two concubines of Shun; short for 湘妃竹, a kind of speckled bamboo. Nothing about music.
18223.18 湘江 Xiang Jiang Only mentions the river.
18223.19 湘江靜 Tranquil Xiang River ; name of a 詞牌 cipai.
18223.30 湘君 Xiang ladies: 娥皇 E Huang and 女英 N　Ying
18223.09 湘夫人 Lyrics in Chu Ci
250.282 二妃 Er Fei, Xiang ladies, more quotes, none qin

Note that 17496.109 江妃 The two river nymphs mentioned in Liexian Zhuan are different people.
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2. Taigu Yiyin does not organize melodies by mode. (Return)

3 Image: The two Xiang concubines 湘妃兒女圖
The illustration here is from 中國的神仙 Immortals in Ancient China, 岳麓書社 Yuelu Publishing House, 2003, p. 158; its images are said to come from 王世貞 Wang Shizhen, 列仙全傳 Lie Xian Quan Zhuan.
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4. 君山 Junshan
Junshan was once an island and can still become one during a flood. In 2000 it was still accessible by boat across a corner of the much-shrunk Dongting Lake from Yueyang. The memorial is new, but the association of the place with the two wives of Shun is quite ancient.
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5. Speckled Bamboo
Speckled bamboo seems to be the subject of a melody found in early lists called Tears on Bamboo Prelude (泣竹引 Qi Zhu Yin); it apparently had the same theme as Xiangfei Yuan. There are some good pictures of speckled bamboo on other websites (e.g., that of Geyuan Garden in Yangzhou). These images are also appropriate for the melody Cangwu Yuan (see in particular the title of Section 9).

Junshan is also noted for a special type of green tea called Junshan silver needle tea (君山銀針 Junshan Yinzhen.
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6. Tracing Xiangfei Yuan
Zha Fuxi's Guide 12/127/237 mentions, in addition to 湘妃怨 Xiang Fei Yuan, the alternate titles 二妃怨 Erfei Yuan (Lament of the Two Concubines) and 二妃思舜 Er Fei Si Shun (The Two Concubines Think of Shun). The last occurrence listed here is dated 1884, so perhaps the title used today, 湘江怨 Xiang Jiang Yuan (see next footnote), is more recent. Almost all have related lyrics, but with slight variations, suggesting the absence of an authoritative source.
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7. Xiangjiang Yuan (湘江怨)
This seems to have been a rather later title for this melody, as it is not used in any of the handbooks listed in Zha's guide (see the previous footnote). I learned it (without the lyrics, which are very similar to the earliest surviving version) from the Yan Yi Xi Qin Zhai Qinpu, Folio III, #2. The commentary there says that it uses tablature from a 閩盧氏本汪君振華所藏 volume of the Lu family of Fujian in the collection of Wang Zhenhua. This title is also used in Yinyinshi Qinpu, p.39, also claiming the Lu family of the Fujian school as the source, adding "old tablature, new lyrics"; there are only a few differences in the tablature but many differences in the lyrics. The melody of Xiangjiang Yin is unrelated.
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8. Details from the 1828 handbook 琴學軔端 Qinxue Renduan
The quote is, "此五季時瀟湘梁意娘寄李生者". Zha Fuxi (Jieti, p.128) adds a comment that this is not a standard explanation and it concerns only the lyrics. ("按原繕本中僅作此注，並非正面解題，而是說明此曲歌詞的來源。但這是一個重要材料。".)
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9. See Gu Jin Tushu Jicheng (古今圖書集成), an imperial encyclopedia published between 1726-8; folio 335 (閨嬡典). Here it says that Liang and Li were cousins who had often met. After appreciating the mid-autumn moon together she began meeting him secretly. When this was discovered he was driven away. Yiniang sent him a song. When Li received the song he sent someone to his uncle to request permission to marry her (he wrote, "令愛才華，賢甥文藻，不如妾之，以塞非議。"). He was successful.
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10. Nor does any have the poetic structure of the lyrics accompanying the present melody,
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11. Xianguan (絃管)
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12. Reproach from Mutual Love (相思怨 Xiangsi Yuan)
The 8 lines of the poem 相思怨 Xiangsi Yuan by the poet-courtesan (some say Daoist nun) 李冶 Li Ye (8th c. CE), also known as 李季蘭 Li Jilan, are almost identical to 8 lines in the middle of the lyrics of Xiangfei Yuan. The line order is different. Below they are made parallel by putting lines 5 to 8 of that section of the qin melody in front of lines 1 to 4. (The poem is also translated in Idema and Grant, p. 177; and by Stephen Owen in Chang and Saussy, p. 59.)

People say the sea is deep,
but it is not half as deep as my love.
The sea still ends at a coastline,
but my love is boundless and without limits.
I bring my qin up onto a high tower;
the tower is empty but filled with moonlight.
I play the melody of mutual love;
but at once a string and my heart both break. 人道海水深，
不抵相思半；
海水尚有涯，
相思渺無畔。
攜琴上高樓，
樓虛月華滿；
彈著相思曲，
弦腸一時斷。 Compare: 5
6
7
8
1
2
3
4 人道湘江深；
未抵相思半。
海深終有底；
相思無邊岸。
攜琴上高樓；
樓高月華滿。
相思彈未終；
淚滴冰絃斷。

There is no musical connection betweeen this and 相思曲 Xiangsi Qu.
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13. Original preface
The Chinese original is not yet online.
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14. The Chinese lyrics of Xiangfei Yuan are as follows.

1.
落花落葉落紛紛；落日思君不見君。
腸斷斷腸腸欲斷；淚珠痕上更添痕。
一片白雲青山內；一片白雲青山外。
青山內外有白雲；白雲飛去青山在。

2
我有一片心；無人共我說。
願風吹散雲；訴與天邊月。

攜琴上高樓；樓高月華滿。
相思彈未終；淚滴冰絃斷。

人道湘江深；未抵相思半。
海深終有底；相思無邊岸。
君在湘江頭；妾在湘江尾。
相思不相見；同飲湘江水。

夢魂飛不到；所欠惟一死。
入我相思門；知我相思苦。

3
長相思兮長相憶；短相思兮無盡極。
早知如此絆人心；何不當初莫相識。
湘江湘水碧澄澄；未抵相思一半深。
每向夢中相見後；令人不覺痛傷心。
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