The qin melody Moshang Sang uses as its lyrics an anonymous song in the voice of a young woman named Luofu (Lofu).³ In it she proudly rejects the advances of a man, then boasts of the virtues of her own husband. The lyrics were included in several early collections including Yuefu Shiji and Yutai Xinyong.² As a qin melody it survives in only three handbooks:⁴ the present one (1597), an identical one dated 1611 and an unrelated one dated 1618.⁵

The original lyrics inspired a large number of later re-writings. Summing up the importance of this story, Joseph Roe Allen, III, wrote,⁶

Allen's article also mentions the association of the mulberry tree with female sexual or erotic behaviour in pre-Qin dynasty literature, and discusses how in later versions of the poem conservative Confucian influences play down or deny this association; they have Luofu, who is perhaps not even outdoors, act more demurely towards the suitor.

Yuefu Shiji introduces this poem with several commentaries.⁸ The one from Gujin Zhu seems to concern either an expanded version of the story told in the poem, or a related but somewhat different story. There Luofu, who is married to a local noble, is approached by the King of Zhao. To reject his advances the girl plays this melody on her 箏 zheng zither. This explanation may appeal to feminists: it allows for the possibility that, Luofu herself being only a teenager, she is exaggerating when she says that her husband is in his 40s.

A similar or perhaps related story concerning a man named Qiuhu is connected to a melody called Qiuhu Xing.⁹

Original Preface
None

 
Melody and Lyrics
Seven sections¹⁰

1 四思歌 Si Si Ge (Return)

2 YFSJ has the original lyrics in Folio 28 (p. 410). Anne Birrell's translation from Yutai Xinyong (Jade Terrace, pp. 40 - 2) is available online. It is also translated in Allen, p. 325. (Return)

3 羅敷 Luofu (Return)

4 Zha, Guide 28/222/428 (Return)

5 The qin three settings of 陌上桑 Moshang Sang are:

1. 1597: the earliest known setting
2. 1611: identical melody and lyrics
3. 1618 (QQJC VIII/292: unrelated music (3 sections) and lyrics (in, respectively, 9, 7 and 8 couplets of 5+5;
   the lyrics begin 高樓阿誰女，長子氏為秦。小字喚羅敷，閫閣佩蘭紉....; I have not been able to trace them;
   the introduction is short: 是曲余擬古樂作。然詞婉拒嚴，聽白茅可息厭矣).
   (Return)

6 Joseph Roe Allen, III, "From Saint to Singing Girl: The Rewriting of the Lo-Fu Narrative in Chinese Literati Poetry." Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 48.2 (1988), 321 - 361. On p. 327 Allen cites an article by Jean-Pierre Diény that traces the association of the mulberry tree with female sexual or erotic behaviour in pre-Qin dynasty literature. Allen also connects these poems with the story of the Chaste Wife of Qiu Hu, which he translates (pp. 347-8) from Lienü Zhuan; in that story the suitor is in fact the girl's husband, who left right after their wedding and on his return years later, not recognizing her, tries to seduce her. (Return)

7 This "triad" consists of Luofu, Cai Wenji, and 蘭芝 Lan-zhi. Lanzhi's mother-in-law sends her home; she commits suicide when her parents try to force her to remarry, at which point her husband Jiao Zhongqing commits suicide. This is recounted in the poem 孔雀東南飛 Kongque Dongnan Fei (no known qin connection; translated online as "A Pair of Peacocks Southeast Fly", and in Birrell, p. 63ff, as An old poem written for Chiao Chung-ch'ing's wife, with a preface). (Return)

8 YFSJ, Folio 28, pp. 410 - 423.
There are 43 poems here on the Luofu theme, but only the first one, an anonymous Han dynasty ballad, is set for qin (see footnote above).

9 秋胡行 Qiuhu Xing Qiuhu Rambles
Qiuhu Xing (25505.194) is a 樂府，相和歌 Yue Fu Matching Song. It does not survive as a qin melody, but as a title it can be seen in several old qin melody lists, including in QYYL, QSDQ, and TYDQJ. These are named for Qiuhu, a man who is sent away shortly after his marriage to 潔婦 Jiefu (sometimes confused with Luofu). When he returns he sees Jiefu picking mulberries by the street. Not recognizing her as his wife, he tries to seduce her.
(Return)

10 The original Chinese lyrics are as follows:

陌上桑
1. （第一段）
   日出東南隅，照我秦氏樓，秦氏有好女，自名為羅敷。羅敷喜蠶桑，采桑城南隅。
   青絲為籠系，桂枝為籠鉤。頭上倭墮髻，耳中明月珠。

2. （第二段） <
   緗綺為下裙，紫綺為上襦。行者見羅敷，下擔捋鬍鬚，少年見羅敷，脫帽著帩頭。
   耕者忘其耕，鋤者忘其鋤。 來歸相怨怒，但坐觀羅敷。

3. （第三段）
   使君從南來，五馬立踟躕。使君遣吏往，問是誰家姝？
   秦氏有好女，自名為羅敷。羅敷年幾何？二十尚不足，十五頗有餘。

4. （第四段）
   使君謝羅敷，寧可共載不？羅敷前置辭，使君一何愚。使君自有婦，羅婦自有夫。

5. （第五段）
   東方千餘騎，夫婿居上頭。何用識夫婿，白馬從驪駒。

6. （第六段）
   青絲系馬尾，黃金絡馬頭，腰中鹿盧劍，可值千萬餘。十五府小史，二十朝大夫，
   三十侍中郎，四十專城居。

7. （第七段）
   為人洁白皙，鬑鬑頗有鬚。盈盈公府步，冉冉府中趨。坐中數千人，皆言夫婿殊。

   （尾聲）
   坐中數千人，皆言夫婿殊。
   (Return)

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