Liu Shang, a qin melody title found only in Xilutang Qintong (1549),² is a version of the melody elsewhere entitled Jiu Kuang, which occurs in five further handbooks. The earliest is in Shen Qi Mi Pu (1425), the last in Lixing Yuanya (1618). As usual the 1585 version with lyrics is very different musically. The others are closely related, though all have different endings. Those with section titles name their last section six "Bend over and exhale",³ but none of these is musically related to the Shen Qi Mi Pu coda, "The sound of the immortal exhaling his wine."

The explanation of Jiu Kuang in Shen Qi Mi Pu connects it with Ruan Ji (210-263),⁴ a famous drinker and one of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove. With over 15 recordings, today Jiu Kuang is one of the most commonly played qin pieces. Most of them use the triple rhythms devised by Yao Bingyan in his 1950s reconstruction, though perhaps making the tempo irregular, so as to represent the idea of drunkenness. To explain his use of triple rhythms Yao wrote (in Yinyue Yishu, 1981/5) that traditional poetry has them, that the Tang qin master Chen Zhuo describes music that can be played triple rhythm,⁵ and that this music sounds good in triple rhythm. Yao thus felt that this was a correct interpretation.

However, triple rhythms are not found elsewhere in Chinese music, and it should be noted that it would be difficult to adapt Liu Shang, or any of the other versions of Jiu Kuang, to triple rhythms. The structures are all similar. Liu Shang opens with the same basic melody as Jiu Kuang, but this then alternates with a somewhat different interlude, and it adds two new sections at the end.

There are no published recordings of Liu Shang, or of any versions of Jiu Kuang other than that in Shen Qi Mi Pu.

As for the Xiuxi mentioned in the preface below, more details are given with the 3^rd melody in this handbook, Xiuxi Yin: usually on the 3^rd day of the 3^rd lunar month scholars would relax along a stream as wine-laden goblets floated by; if a goblet stopped in front of a scholar he had to compose an appropriate poem or drink from the goblet. There was a particularly famous xiuxi at the Orchid Pavilion⁶ near Shaoxing in May of the year 353 C.E.; it was immortalized by the famous calligrapher Wang Xizhi (see illustration). Xiuxi Yin sounds very appropriate as a prelude to Liu Shang, but no handbook makes this connection. Xilutang Qintong connects Xiuxi Yin with the melody Yang Chun.

The music of Liu Shang is quite evocative; passages where the melody glides up and down, like goblets floating in a stream, alternate with interludes where the music seems to swirl around, like goblets bobbing in front of an attentive scholar.

 
Original preface:

"During the Yonghe period (345-357) all the sages had a xiuxi at the Orchid Pavilion. It was mellow and sophisticated pleasure, a feast such as might occur once in a thousand years. Later people commemorated it with this piece. With the high flavor of the region along the north bank of the (Yangzi) River, one can broadly imagine it."

 
Music
Eight sections
(untitled)

  1.
  2.
  3.
  4.
  5.
  6.
  7.
  8.
      Coda
      end

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1 17762.316 Liu Shang describes the custom associated with the Xiuxi (修禊) ceremony, but has nothing about music. (Return)
2 There is an opera called Lanting Meeting (蘭亭輝 Lanting Hui, see LXS p.187) which tells the story of the famous floating goblet episode. (Return)
3 didi tu jiu (低低吐酒). For didi 539.18 says low sound. Tu (吐) is often translated as "retch", but TKW says it is more refined than ou (嘔). In this context tu might thus suggest a Daoist breathing technique for clearing the head. (Return)
4 42492.94 Ruan Ji (阮籍) Good at qin and intoning, but especially at drinking. (Return)
5 See 1590, p.171. (Return)
6 蘭亭 Lanting; for more on orchids see Guqin and Orchids (Return)

Return to the annotated handbook list or to the Guqin ToC.