After Li Yuan established the Tang dynasty he made his son Li Shimin Prince of Qin as well as appointing him Chief Guardian of the Emperor. In this capacity (i.e., before he became the Tang dynasty Taizong emperor in 626), in order to promote good government after the unrest accompanying the change of dynasty, Li Shimin brought together 18 scholars to advise the government. He appointed Du Ruhui (Wiki) to be first among them.

During the reign of the Tang Xuanzong emperor (r. 713 - 756) this group was formally organized as the Hanlin Academy (Wiki). Joining the academy became known as called "ascending Yingzhou", after a fabled island of immortals in the Eastern Sea.

Depictions of 18 scholars in an elegant gathering came to be a motif in Chinese painting (sometimes in combination with the Four Arts).⁶ And because in classical Chinese pronunciation the word for crane (in Mandarin "ho") is pronounced the same as the word for study (xue), in art there is also the motif of 18 cranes, to represent the 18 scholars.⁷

 
Original preface

None.

 
Music and lyrics⁸
Five sections, untitled; the lyrics and music are paired almost one note per syllable
(timings follow my tentative recording 聽錄音, played too fast to sing the lyrics, and with extraneous sounds):

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Eighteen Scholars Ascend Yingzhou (十八學士登瀛州 Shiba Xueshi Deng Yingzhou)
None of the dictionary references for this mentions a melody.

2. Shang mode (商調 shangdiao)
For further information on this mode see Shenpin Shang Yi
(Return)

3. Image
The title of this ceramic pen or brush holder from Jingdezhen is on the side shown here upper left: 十八學仕 18 Scholars. The ceramic piece shown below is from the same source. In Cantonese (the pronunciation of which is said to be closer to that of early Chinese than modern Chinese is) both "學 study" and "鶴 crane" are pronounced "hok"; in this context cranes can be called 鶴士 Mr. Cranes.
(Return)

4. Tracing Shiba Xueshi
The three later versions are:

1. Fengxuan Xuanpin (1539): six titled sections, with a similar melody but completely different lyrics.
2. Xilutang Qintong (1549): 6 titled sections, also in shang mode, but very different melody
3. Wenhuitang Qinpu (1596): 9 untitled sections and still different lyrics; the melody seems related to 1549.

5. 1549 preface
It has only general comments, nothing about the origins of the melody.
(Return)

6. Artistic representation of the four arts
For some good commentary on this in English see pp. 43-53 of Scarlett Jang, Representations of Exemplary Scholar-Officials, Past and Present, in Liu and Ching (ed), Arts of the Sung and Yüan; Princeton, The Art Museum, 1999.
(Return)

7. Cranes as Scholars
The title of this ceramic brush holder from Jingdezhen (compare at top) is 六公同＿ Six Worthies Gather ___ : here 4 + 2 cranes stand for the 18. The text on two of the other sides is not yet translated. For 18 cranes as scholars see above.
(Return)

8. Chinese lyrics (聽錄音－未唱的)
The lyrics in Chinese are as follows. (A gap between commas indicates a repeated musical phrase; there is no indication whether the lyrics of that phrase should also be repeated. // means the whole line is repeated.)

Return to the , to the Faming Qinpu intro, or to the Guqin ToC