Han Yu (768-828),¹ one of the Tang dynasty's most influential poets and essayists, is best known for his "ancient style prose" (gu wen), part of an aim to "return to antiquity" (fugu; see comment under HIP.). In this he is often paired with Meng Jiao (751 - 814).² By the Tang dynasty the written language had changed, and gu wen was an effort to return to ancient ways. Gu wen writers did not try to reproduce the earlier styles, rather "they wrote in a new style based on the ancient (pre-Qin and Han) ideals of clarity, conciseness, and utility."³

Ronald Egan in his article "Music, Sadness and the Qin"⁴ writes that Han Yu mentions the qin four times in his poetry. These are perhaps the four included in Qinshu Daquan (QQJC, Volume V), as follows:

However, Han Yu also wrote a set of 10 poems called Qin Cao (qin melodies; cao in ancient times often referred to laments). Taigu Yiyin includes melodic settings of these 10 poems, all written in the voice of people of earlier times. These titles constitute 10 of the 12 Qin Cao found in a famous list attributed to Cai Yong (133-192).⁶

Because Taigu Yiyin groups pieces according to the person with whom the melody is associated, Han Yu's poems are not all together. Below they are listed according to their order in Han Yu's Qin Cao. At the end of each entry is the order in Taigu Yiyin (TG), the order in Cai Yong's Qin Cao (CY), then the page reference for the Zhonghua Shuju edition of Yuefu Shiji.

1. Jiang Gui Cao (About to Return Melody); TG14; CY1; Yuefu Shiji, p.841
2. Yilan Cao (Esteemed Orchid Melody); TG13; CY2; Yuefu Shiji, p.840;
3. Guishan Cao (Turtle Mountain Melody); TG15; CY3; Yuefu Shiji, p.842
4. Yueshang Cao (Yueshang Melody; TG10; CY4; Yuefu Shiji, p.832
5. Juyou Cao (Gloomy-Detention Melody); TG05; CY5; Yuefu Shiji, p.829
6. Qishan Cao (Melody of Mount Qi); TG04; CY6; Yuefu Shiji, p.832
7. Lü Shuang Cao (Walking-in-the-Frost Melody; TG11; CY7; Yuefu Shiji, p.833/4
8. Zhi Zhao Fei Cao (Melody of the Pheasant Flies in the Morning); TG19; CY8; Yuefu Shiji, p.837
9. Bie Gu Cao (Parting Snowgoose Melody); TG18; CY9 (Bie He); Yuefu Shiji, p.845
10. Canxing Cao (Melody of the Partial Form); TG17; CY10; Yuefu Shiji, p.842

1. Shui Xian (Water Spirit), attributed to Bo Ya; CY11; not in Yuefu Shiji⁷
2. Huai Ling (Cherished Mount), attributed to Bo Ya; CY12; not in Yuefu Shiji⁸

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Han Yu (768-828)
44126.317 韓愈，字推之 Han Yu, style name Tuizhi, canonized 文公 Wen'gong. 古文 Gu wen; 復古 fugu. See Stephen Owen, The Poetry of Meng Jiao and Han Yü. Translations of Han Yu are included in many collections, but I know of none only with his work.
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2. Meng Jiao (751 - 814)
7107.107 孟郊，字東野 Meng Jiao, style name Dongye, was "the eldest and most difficult of the fugu writers who gathered around Han Yu at the turn of the ninth century" (ICTCL). Owen, op. cit., pp. 18 and 186, mentions that Han Yu praised Meng Jiao in his "rather dour" Preface on Seeing off Meng Jiao (see also Murck). Meng Jiao's own lyrics are mentioned or quoted in connection with,

Other relevant poems included two in Qinshu Daquan,

3. Charles Hartman in Nienhauser, Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, p.388.
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4. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies #57, p.53.
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5. 廳琴吟 Ting Qin Yin (Listening to the Qin)
Zha, Guide, 29/226/433: this melody was published in 1589 (QQQJ, VII, p. 73) and three later handbooks. It is set to the Han Yu poem 聽穎師彈琴 Listening to Reverend Ying Play the Qin (translation in Egan, Controversy, p.48). Reverend Ying was well-known as a qin player.
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6. The list of 12 cao can be found in Taiyin Daquanji. Qinyuan Yaolu gives introductions to each melody.
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7. 水仙 Shui Xian; see Shuixian Qu
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8. Huai Ling has been written two ways: 壞陵(操) Ruined Mounds (Lament) and 懷陵操 Cherished Mounds Lament. For further details see the note with Qin Cao
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