The melody here is related to the one called Longshuo Cao in Shen Qi Mi Pu and that occurs in about 17 handbooks from 1425 to 1618.⁴ It is connected to a story about the beautiful Wang Zhaojun being sold to a foreign prince and having to live in the wastelands of Central Asia.

Taigu Yiyin mentions only Wang Zhaojun in its attribution of the melody, but the lyrics appear in the same order as they do in Folio 59, #1 of the Yuefu Shiji.⁵ There they are attributed to seven different people, Wang Zhaojun herself, Wang Shuying nee Liu (sister of Liu Xiaochuo), Chen Shubao, Bai Juyi, Zhang Hu, Liang Shiqiong and Yang Ling.⁶

For more information see comments on the version published in Shen Qi Mi Pu (1425), called Longshuo Cao.

 
Original preface ⁷

Translation incomplete.

 
Music: Thirteen Sections ⁸
A largely syllabic setting of the poems

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Zhaojun Yuan 昭君怨
See Zha Guide 7/73/113 and Longshuo Cao.
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2. Mode
Taigu Yiyin does not mention tuning or modes, so this information must be determined by internal analysis or comparison with related versions. Here the mode is clearly Wuyi, also called Huangzhong. To achieve this tuning, slacken 1st, tighten 5th strings each a half step from standard tuning. For more details on this mode see Shenpin Wuyi Yi. For more on modes in general see Modality in Early Ming Qin Tablature.
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3. Image
Appropriate image not yet online.
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4. See the related chart.
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5. See pp.853-5.
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6. These are outlined under Music. Folio 29 of YFSJ also has poems on the Wang Zhaojun theme, including one by Guo Yuanzhen (p.429). However, there seem be no surviving settings of these for qin.
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7. Original preface
Not yet online: begins, 按明妃傳... According to the biography of Mingfei....
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8. Original lyrics
Taigu Yiyin gives the lyrics without author name or poem title (the seven poems are also in Yuefu Shiji pp. 853-5):

The lyrics are as follows:

	(1 & 7):	王嬙	秋木萋萋，其葉萎黃。有鳥爰止，集於苞桑。 養育毛羽，形容生光。既得升雲，獲侍帷房。 離宮絕曠，身體摧藏。志念幽沉，不得頡頏。 雖得餧食，心有徊徨。我獨伊何，改往變常。 翩翩之燕，遠集西羌。高山峨峨，河水泱泱。 父兮母兮，道里悠長。鳴呼哀哉，憂心惻傷。
	(2 & 8)	梁王叔英妻劉氏	一生竟何定，萬事最難保。 丹青失舊儀，玉匣成秋草。 想妾辭關淚，至今猶未燥。 漢使汝南還，殷勤為人道。
	(3 & 9)	陳後王	圖形漢宮裏，遙聘單于庭。 狼山聚雲暗，龍沙飛雪輕。 笳吟度隴咽，笛轉出關鳴。 啼妝寒葉下，愁眉塞月生。 只餘馬上曲，猶作別時聲。 圖形漢宮裏，遙聘單于庭。
	(4 & 10)	白居易	明妃風貌最娉婷，合在椒房應四星。 只得當年備宮掖，何曾專夜奉幃屏。 見疏從道迷圖畫，知屈那教配虜庭。 自是君恩薄如紙，不須一向恨丹青。
	(5 & 11)	張祐	萬裏邊城遠，千山行路難。 舉頭唯見月，何處是長安？ 漢庭無大議，戎虜幾先和。 莫羨傾城色，昭君恨最多。
	(6 & 12)	梁氏瓊	自古無和親，貽災到妾身。 胡風嘶去馬，漢月吊行輪。 衣薄狼山雪，妝成虜塞春。 回看父母國，生死畢胡塵。
	( 13 )	楊凌	漢國明妃去不還，馬馱弦管向陰山。 匣中縱有菱花鏡，羞對單于照舊顏。

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