Sima Xiangru (179 - 117) is considered one of early China's best and most influential essayists and poets. His most famous poems are fu, often translated as "rhapsody", but he also wrote numerous essays.³

However, he is more broadly famous for the story of his seduction of Zhuo Wenjun,⁴ said to have taken place at the home of her father, Zhuo Wangsun, in Linqiong (today called Qionglai), a town about 50 miles southwest of Chengdu.⁵

Sima Xiangru's original name was apparently Quanzi (Puppy).⁶ He later changed it because of his admiration for Lin Xiangru.⁷

Earlier in his career, after a brief stint at the court of Emperor Jingdi (r. 156 - 141) in Chang An,⁸ he had lived at the court of Prince Xiao of Liang,⁹ in Shangqiu, Henan province. In 143, when the prince died he returned home to Chengdu.

In 142 or 141 he returned to Chang An and lived at the court of Emperor Wudi (r.141 - 87). Here as a Gentleman of the Court he was very influential in extending Han authority over Sichuan. Being independently wealthy through his wife's family allowed him to live well without the need for public office. When he became ill he retired to his 茂陵 Maoling, near Chang An, and died here. He had apparently been a prolific writer, but when at his death the emperor sent someone to collect Xiangru's writings, they found that most of it had been lost.

Sima Xiangru's seduction of Wenjun is retold in connection with the qin melodies Wenjun Cao, Feng Qiu Huang. His essay Da Ren Fu is said to have been based on the poem Yuan You. Qin illustration 28 in Taiyin Daquanji shows a qin named Lu Qi that supposedly was his.¹⁰

A more complete version of the seduction of Wenjun is told in the History of the Western Han. This is included in Qinshu Daquan (QQJC V. p.348), Folio 16, #11.

The original Qin Shi essay is as follows,

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. 司馬相如 Sima Xiangru (179 - 117; 3306.207)
司馬相如 Sima Xiangru's biography is chapter 117 of the Shi Ji; translated in Burton Watson, Records of the Grand Historian, II.259-306. See also ICTCL pp. 723-4 and Biographical Dictionary of the Qin, Former Han and Xin Periods, pp. 487 - 9.
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2. The source of the essay is not indicated.
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3. Translations of works attributed to him include,

4. 卓文君 Zhuo Wenjun
2792.8 Zhuo Wenjun says she was from 臨邛 Linqiong and the daughter of 卓王孫 Zhuo Wangsun, who was wealthy but does not otherwise seem to appear in history. 13766.164 文君 Wenjun has several people with this name, including Wen Wang as well as 卓文君 Zhuo Wenjun; .165 文君新寡 Wenjun Newly Widowed and .166 文君當壚 Wenjun in a Wine Shop give references from the biography of Sima Xiangru in Shi Ji. They all tell of her seduction by Sima Xiangru, also related in connection with the melodies Feng Qiu Huang and Wenjun Cao. After living in poverty and running a wineshop for some time, Wenjun was reconciled with her father, who then gave the couple 100 servants, 1,000,000 in cash plus everything he had already given her for her previous dowry; they then set up very comfortably at a mansion in Chengdu. Later, Wenjun is herself said to have written a melody called Baitou Yin (see below), included ancient melody lists such the Moderately Ancient section of Seng, and with tablature in 1618.

白頭吟 Baitou Yin White Hair Intonation (attributed to Zhuo Wenjun)
Baitou Yin (23191.1075: see YFSJ) survives only in 1618 (QQJC VIII, p.298; Guide 31/242/460); the mode there is called Wumei. According to the story, some years after Sima Xiangru and Zho Wenjun were married, as Wenjun's hair was turning grey, Xiangru decided to take a concubine. Wenjun then wrote Baitou Yin to remind Xiangru of his previous vows; he relented. Playing this melody requires using one of the strange tunings typical of that handbook: tighten the 2nd and 6th strings, giving 1 3 4 5 6 2 2 !; this tuning could hardly be more different than that for Feng Qiu Huang (lower the 3rd and 6th strings).

The lyrics for the melody Baitou Yin are the first two poems in YFSJ, Xianghe Geci, Chu Diao Qu (p.599). The originals are as follows (note the similarity of the two):

5. Modern maps sometimes still have 臨邛 Linqiong as well as 邛崍 Qionglai.
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6. 犬子 Quanzi
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7. 閵相如 Lin Xiangru was a minister under 趙惠王 King Hui (also called 惠文 Huiwen) of Zhao (r.298 - 266). Giles tells a story in which Lin Xiangru keeps the King of Qin from succeeding with a false offer of trading 15 cities for a gem then in the possession of King Huiwen of Zhao.

Two stories in 十二國史 (see Qinshu Daquan, Folio 16, #9) tell of the King of Zhao playing the qin. Because of the connection with Lin Xiangru, this is presumably Huiwen of Zhao. Zhao had its capital in 邯鄲 Handan (southern Hebei).
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8. During the reign of Emperor Jing (r. 156 - 141)
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9. 梁孝王劉武 Prince Xiao of Liang
Prince Xiao of Liang was Liu Wu (r. 168-144). His court was located in what is today 商丘 Shangqiu in Henan province, near the border with Shandong province. Its modern website claims to have been the "family home" of Confucius (it is just over 100 miles SW of Qufu) and the home town of Zhuangzi.
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10. 綠綺 Lu Qi (28209.315; 9/922)
Lu Qi (Green Silk; Green Gossamer) is the name of a qin said to have been given to Sima Xiangru by 梁王 the Prince of Liang (see above) in response to Sima Xiangru's 玉如意賦 Poetic Essay on a Jade Ruyi (now lost); Bai Juyi's 白帖 Bai Tie says that Sima Xiangru used this qin to play 求鳳之曲 (i.e., Feng Qiu Huang). It was so famous that its name alone was often used to signify "beautiful qin"; see for example a Li Bai poem; in another poem he suggests this as the name of his own qin. Another qin of this name is the one in the biography of Xie Juanzi said to have belonged to a woman he met. However, when included amongst illustrations of famous qins, as at right from Taigu Yiyin, it is always said to belong to Sima Xiangru. The same qin is also illustraed in Taiyin Daquanji, Folio 2, and its use in the seduction is shown in the qin illustration in Fengxuan Xuanpin.
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