The title Chun Jiang or Chun Jiang Qu appears in eight handbooks from 1511 to 1589.⁴ All are related except the Chun Jiang in Xilutang Qintong (1549), which is attributed to Fan Li (5th C. BCE).⁵ Besides 1511, the only other version with lyrics is the one in Chongxiu Zhenchuan Qinpu (1585); it is also the only other one attributed, as here, to Guo Zhen.

The melody seems to be related to one called Qiu Jiang Wan Diao (Autumn River Evening Fishing), particularly some of the later ones (see outline).

The lyrics to the song Chun Jiang Qu in Taigu Yiyin are in Yuefu Shiji, but not in the qin melody section. Instead they are among the Miscellaneous Songs of Folio 77. The only explanation in the entry comes with Chun Jiang Xing, which precedes Chun Jiang Qu. It is a brief quote attributed to the Tang minister Guo Zhen, here called Guo Yuanzhen, as follows.

1. Chun Jiang Xing: Guo Yuanzhen says, "Chun Jiang is the song of a woman of Ba (Sichuan)." There is then Chun Jiang Xing, with lyrics by the Liang Jianwen emperor (reigned 550-551), not set to music here. This is followed by,

2. Chun Jiang Qu: no separate commentary. There are five short poems attributed, in order, to:
   Guo Zhen (one poem),
   Zhang Ji (one poem), and
   Zhang Zhongsu (three poems).

The Taigu Yiyin tablature setting the five Chun Jiang Qu lyrics to music uses two large circles to separate the melody into three parts. The third part has the three Zhang Zhongsu poems, without indicating where to separate them.

The preface in Taigu Yiyin suggests that Chun Jiang Qu was written to comfort people traveling across Central Asia.⁶

The related Chun Jiang melodies with no lyrics are generally attributed to Yu Wenjing.⁷

 
Original preface⁸

This was composed by the virtuous Tang statesman Guo Yuanzhen. Tang people who served on the frontier would go away for three years without returning, their bones drying out in the sandy gravel; Yuanzhen mourned for them, so he wrote this song in order to reveal the depths of their thoughts of home.... (Translation tentative and incomplete.)

 
Music and Lyrics⁹
A largely syllabic setting of the three poems

1. Guo Zhen: (5+5) x 2 (tentative translation: 中文)

   The river water is deep and clear,
       above it on both sides is a bamboo grove.
   The bambook leaves float on (spoil) the color of the water,
       but the young genteman has spoiled my heart.

2. Zhang Ji: (7+7) x 5 (tentative translation : 中文)

   The river in spring has no clouds, and in the morning the water is calm;
       rush leaves arise out of the water, and ducklings call out.
   From Changgan (in Nanjing) my husband loves traveling afar;
       (meanwhile) I dye the spring clothing, the sewing already finished.
   As a wife, my whole life had been spent in Nanjing;
       (then) last year I followed my husband to live on the north side of the Yangzi River.
   When spring came I was unable to go to my parents' home;
       our boat was small and the wind was great (so) we could not cross (the river)
   Wanting to leave my husband's parents I first asked him,
       (so I [we?]) personally went to the river's edge and scrificed to the Water Spirit.

3. Zhang Zhongsu: ([5+5] x 2) x 3 (tentative translation: 中文)

   Swirling waves overflow the river in spring.
       on both sides you can see the white duckweek.
   While returning, before I had realized it night fell;
       coming away from the river bank the moon followed me.

   Homes on the bank of the river in spring:
       travelers of all ages go by.
   They don't know about the tidal waters reliably,
       and by the end of the day they run into a sand bank.

   There is morning mist at the south river crossing,
       uneven and repeated waves flow sideways.
   The island in front: where is it?
       in the fog, wild geese call out.

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. 14146.67 and 5/642 Chun Jiang (no qu) refer to a river in spring; the only proper name mentioned is that it is short for 富春江 Fuchun River, which runs into Hangzhou. There is no mention of Yuefu Shiji poems (Chinese edition, pp. 1081 - 1093). There also seems to be no connection to 14146.69 春江花月夜 Chun Jiang Hua Yue, of which Yuefu Shiji has several examples (pp. 678-680), including poems by 張若虛 Zhang Ruoxu (c.660-c.720) and 溫庭筠 Wen Tingjun (ca. 801 - ca. 866). (Return)

2. Taigu Yiyin does not organize melodies by mode. (Return)

3. As yet no image. (Return)

4. Zha, Guide 14/150/267, lists 7 handbooks with 春江曲 Chun Jiang Qu or Chun Jiang; it did not index 1551. Two have lyrics (L); the others drop "qu" from the title.

1. 1511 (I/294; L; 1 section)
2. 1539 (II/183; related; 3 sections)
3. 1549 (III/86; music is unrelated; 10)
4. 1551 (IV/81; related to 1511 but greatly expanded: 7+1; like Qiu Jiang Wan Diao)
5. 1557 (III/333; similar to 1551; 8)
6. 1561 (II/516; identical to 1553)
7. 1585 (IV/375; L almost same as 1511; music related; 1)
8. 1596 (VI/212; related; 6)

In addition, versions of Qiu Jiang Wan Diao in the following handbooks are melodically related to some of the Chun Jiang:

1. 1530 (I/325; different lyrics to above, but music similar to Chun Jiang of 1551, etc.; 8)
2. 1585 (IV/359; lyrics and music similar to 1530; 8)
3. 1589 (VII/91; lyrics and music similar to 1530; 8+1)
   (Return)

5. For 范蠡 Fan Li (5th c. BCE) see Chun Jiang in Xilutang Qintong. (Return)

6. I have not yet found out the source of this story. (Return)

7. 33531.xx 虞文靖 Yu Wenjing was the death name of Yuan dynasty essayist and poet 虞集 Yu Ji (1272-1348) (Return)

8. The original preface says,

9. The original Taigu Yiyin lyrics are as follows (some differences from YFSJ),

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