Liu Shang

Liu Shang, a qin melody title found only in Xilutang Qintong (1549),⁴ actually describes a version of the melody elsewhere entitled Jiu Kuang, which occurs in five further handbooks from Shen Qi Mi Pu (1425) to 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 "Bend over and exhale",⁵ but none of these is musically related to the Shen Qi Mi Pu coda, "The sound of the immortal exhaling his wine."

As for the Xiuxi at Lanting (the Orchid Pavilion⁶), 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. The xiuxi at the Orchid Pavilion near Shaoxing in May of the year 353 C.E. was particularly famous;⁷ 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.

The explanation of Jiu Kuang in Shen Qi Mi Pu connects it with Ruan Ji (210-263),⁸ 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 that traditional poetry has them, that the Tang qin master Chen Zhuo describes music that can be played triple rhythm,⁹ 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.

Original preface:¹⁰

"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. Liu Shang references
17762.316 流觴 Liu Shang describes the custom associated with the Xiuxi (修禊) ceremony, but has nothing about music.
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2. Gong mode (宮調 Gong diao)
See Shenpin Gong Yi
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3. Photo taken in Beijing, May 2008.
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4. Zha Guide gives it a separate entry instead of correctly grouping it with Jiu Kuang.
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5. Bend over and exhale (低低吐酒 didi tu jiu)
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.
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6. Orchid Pavilion (蘭亭 Lan Ting)
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. As for orchids themselves, see Guqin and Orchids.
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7. Shaoxing is about 100 miles southeast of Hangzhou.
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8. Ruan Ji
42492.94 Ruan Ji (阮籍): Good at qin and intoning, but especially at drinking.
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9. Yao Bingyan on triple rhythms
The article was in Yinyue Yishu, 1981/5). For the Chen Zhuo reference see Qinshu Daquan (1590), Folio 8 (QQJC V/171). Presumably this is the first line on the bottom half of the page, where it writes, "有三聲急作 there three sounds played quickly" and "有三聲慢作 there are three sounds played slowly."
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10. Original Chinese not yet online.
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Return to the annotated handbook list or to the Guqin ToC.