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Emperor Shun
- Qin Shi #2 |
帝舜 1
琴史 #2 2 Temple honoring Shun at Jiuyi Shan3 |
Shun, traditional dates 2317-2208, here called Di Shun (Emperor Shun), is also called Yu Shun. The main source of information about him is his biography in Sima Qian's Shi Ji (Records of the Grand Historian).4 The account there relates his filial nature as a child, his marriage to two daughters of Emperor Yao, Yao's appointing Shun as emperor, and Shun's death in Cangwu (Jiuyi mountains).
Shun has a number of associations with the qin (as well as at least one with the se5). As his entry below indicates, he is said to have created two qin songs. Since Shun is said to have played a five-string qin these melodies all use only five strings.6
In addition, the commentary on at least four other melodies connects them with Shun. These use the standard seven strings:
Passages in Qinshu Daquan connected to Shun include the following.
Folio 16, #4 has the account in the Book of Rites of him playing the five-string qin
Folio 16, #8 has an account of this story from The Records of the Grand Historian;
this passage is quoted in full in a footnote to
Nanxun Ge, and in part with Nanfeng Ge
Folio 16, #14 has two other stories, from Mencius, about Shun playing the qin.
Qin illustration 4 in Taiyin Daquanji claims to be a depiction of his 虞舜 Yu Shun qin, quoting Qin Qing Ying (by Yang Xiong). It adds the stories that he played the five string qin and the world was well ordered, and that Wen Wang added two strings.8 Illustration 5 is his Music Official's (伶官 Ling Guan) qin.
The Qin Shi entry is as follows,
Mencius said, Shun had a qin by his bed even through the difficulties with (his father) 瞽瞍 Gusou and (his brother) 象 Xiang; in this way he could continue to play and sing, and not be troubled in his mind, and his filial nature would continue to improve. An old tradition says that the melody
Si Qin Cao concerns this.
When the time came for him to be emperor he played the five-string qin and accompanied himself by singing Nanfeng Ge, and as a result the world was well-regulated. The words of this song are as follows,
At that time a harmonious spirit filled heaven and earth, and covered its plants and animals. (Thus) (尚)書 Shang Shu (The Venerated Documents) say, 簫韶九成,鳳凰來儀 "When all nine parts of Xiaoshao have been completed, the male and female phoenix arrive appropriately." This is the greatest extreme of harmony.
Southern winds' timeliness
can be used to make abundant my people's wealth.
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a
separate page)
1.
Shun or Yu Shun 舜、虞舜
31025/5 舜 says to see 33531.126 虞舜 Yu Shun, which has an illustration. Also known by the praise name 重華 Chonghua. Don't confuse 虞 Yu with 禹 Yu. Anne Birrell, Chinese Mythology, discusses him in detail, translating his name as Hibiscus. See also
Wikipedia.
(Return)
3. The image is from a website called Changing Trip. (Return)
4. See Nienhauser, The Grand Scribe's Records, I, p. 8ff. (Return)
5. A story from Lüshi Chunqiu, translated in Knoblock and Riegel, is related in a footnote to Origins of the Qin. (Return)
6. A footnote under the earliest Nan Feng Ge traces various melodies with a similar theme. (Return)
7.
Xiaoshao Jiucheng, Fenghuang Laiyi:
Panpipes Play Shao Nine Times, and Phoenixes Attend
Qinpu Zhengchuan (1547) has the first of five qin pu with this title. See Zha Guide 18/177/-- . Other titles used for it are:
中文大辭典 Dictionary references mostly quote the full title:
Shi Ji says that when Music Master 夔 Kui played music for Shun to honor Yu, (GSR I, p.35) "the deceased ancestors all arrived (to enjoy the sacrifices), the lords all yielded to each other, the birds and beasts all began to soar and dance." And when he played Xiaoshao Jiucheng, Fenghuang Laiyi, the beasts danced and the officials were all in harmony. Because of this Shun wrote a song. Shi Ji adds lyrics he and others wrote and sang for this.
However, neither the surviving qin melody nor the YFSJ entry mention Shun or these lyrics. They all refer to a later event, in which Cheng Wang celebrates his success with this melody and some new lyrics. The YFSJ entry also does not mention the Qin Cao reference to Yi Feng, although it also says it is by Cheng Wang and it includes the same lyrics, plus an extra line.
The YFSJ entry for "Shenfeng Cao, also called Fenghuang Laiyi" is as follows.
Xie Xiyi's Qin Lun says, "Cheng Wang wrote Shenfeng Cao 言德化之感也 to speak of the feelings of its making things virtuous."
Qin Ji says, "Fenghuang Laiyi" was written by Cheng Wang."
8. All of this is quoted from Qin Qing Ying? (Return)
Return to QSCB, or to the Guqin ToC.