Emperors throughout the Song and Yuan dynasties were generally qin lovers. As the highest authorities of those times, their fondness naturally became a source of promotion and encouragement. They also adopted Qin Daizhao,¹ preserved well-known tablature collections scattered in various places, and all had a certain positive significance. However, their promoting qin always was coming from rulers' particular needs, and thus brought along with the development of qin studies some negative influences.

The Song Taizong Emperor, Zhao Kuangyi² (r. 976-997), in the first year of his Zhidao era (995), "constructed a qin with the strings increased to nine, a ruan [lute] with five strings,³ and new tablature in 37 folios." He ordered the Daizhao Zhu Wenqi and Cai (Zhao) Yi to give performances for the people and obtained "several dozen people from China and outside⁴ to offer poems of praise." After this emperors of every period followed the example of Song Taizong, thinking up many schemes to change the qin, from a one string qin and two string qin up to the nine string qin, and so forth. These unrealistic modified qins could only be used in ceremonies and sacrifices, and were not accepted by the qin world.⁵

The (Song) Gaozong Emperor [1127-63] Zhao Gou [1107-87], who occupied only the southern part of China, also had a qin especially made in the shape of a shield to send to his vassals, to show that he was not forgetting military affairs.

The qin tablatures used by the imperial family, and collected in their private inner chambers, were called "gepu" (inner chamber tablature).⁶ [But] after Taizong [this practice] was gradually abandoned. Coming to the Huangyou period (1049-53)⁷ qin tablatures again were brought into the private inner chambers. At that time there were many tablatures passed on among the people, but the palace considered only gepu to be valuable. Tablatures which had not gone through verification by the Dasheng Yuefu (Great Splendor Music Repository, 1102-06)⁸ could not be brought into the imperial range. During the Shaoxing period (1131-62)⁹ it was even discovered that the situation was, "if it wasn't a volume from the private apartments, it couldn't serve [i.e., be played for the emperor." These sorts of regulations by the royal court could only make the gepu even more separate from the masses, becoming something moribund, so that it was later replaced by the people's lively and vigorous Jiangxi school.¹⁰

The Song Huizong Emperor (1101-25) Zhao Ji¹¹ [1082-1135] advantageously used his power to "search north and south for famous qins of outstanding quality, in order to fulfill his favorite hobby. Also, he especially set up a Wanqin Tang¹² (10,000 qin hall) in order to store up these famous qins. Among these the most famous was called Spring Thunder (Chunlei). It was made by the famous Tang dynasty craftsman Lei Wei.¹³ Later, when the capital was attacked by the Jin dynasty, this Wanqin Tang fell into the hands of the Jin dynasty rulers (see Jin Zhangzong, next paragraph).

Many Jin dynasty emperors were also fond of the qin. Among these the (Jin) Zhangzong Emperor (1190-1208) Wanyan Jing especially stands out. He greatly appreciated the playing of Miao Xiushi, and appointed him Daizhao in the Hanlin academy.¹⁴ He also highly valued the famous qin called Chunlei, designating it his "number one qin in the royal repository," and being inseparable from it, to the extent that on his deathbed he still "held it in order to take it to the grave."¹⁵ This fond attachment to the qin was even stronger than that of Zhao Ji.

The [then] Song heir apparent Zhao Hong¹⁶ in 1221, because he was fond of the qin, brought disaster [on himself]. The powerful official Shi Miyuan¹⁷ used Zhao Hong's fondness for the qin to offer him a beautiful woman who was a good qin player. After she found out that [Zhao Hong] had unfavorable opinions of [Shi Miyuan], he used a secret plot to have Zhao Hong's position canceled, instead setting up an imperial descendent obedient to his own ideas, the future Lizong Emperor.¹⁸

The Lizong Emperor's wife was Empress Xie. She ruled on behalf of the last emperor, Duzong, and brought the Southern Song dynasty to an end. The people¹⁹ detained in the Yuan capital as prisoners of war, never forgetting their pleasure-seeking, also had to bring along the qin master Wang Yuanliang as retainer.

These affairs clearly show that during the Song and Yuan dynasties the appreciation of qin music had become an aspect that could not be missing from the lives of the emperors.

(Return to Song and Yuan dynasties)

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Defined in previous section. (Return)

2. 939-997; Zhao Kuangyi was his original name, but his brother Kuangyin, who founded the empire, changed the name to Zhao Huang. (Return)

3. Today the ruan still commonly has four strings. (Return)

4. This probably refers in large part to northern areas where there were many Chinese-speaking people, such as the Liao empire. (Return)

5. "Song Shi, Yuezhi" (Song History, Music Annals). (Return)

6. 42230.xxx. (Return)

7. During the Renzong Emperor's reign (1023-64). (Return)

8. 5990.1128, dasheng qi, says that during the Xining period, 1068-78, a da yuefu was established to deal with court music (yayue). (Return)

9. During the Gaozong Emperor's reign (1127-63). (Return)

10. "Yang Jue, Qinshu Zeng Huang Yiran" (Qin art presented to Huang Yiran [48904.xxx); see Rao Zongyi, pp.83-4. (Return)

11. Huizong was particularly noteworthy for his support of all arts. (Return)

12. 25455.xxx. (Return)

13. 43196.79; Qinshi #576 (Return)

14. Somewhat like the French C.N.R.S., the Hanlin academy was a group of recognized scholars. (Return)

15. According to (Song) Zhou Mi, Yunyan Guo Yanlu, it was buried with him, then dug up 18 years later undamaged. Zheng Mingzhong in Beijing has one which he claims is this instrument, but with no proof. Several other qin called Chun Lei also exist today. (Return)

16. 38015.441; taizi, "imperial descendants", were "descended from the founder of the dynasty through the male line." (Return)

17. Cf. Giles; powerful official who opposed Han Chazhou, rehabilitated neo-Confucians, and was instrumental in making Zhao Yun the Lizong Emperor (1225-64). (Return)

18. Where is this story from? (Return)

19. Xu Jian uses the female pronoun here, but Tong Kin-Woon says it was used for consistency with the previous sentence, and doesn't refer just to women. (Return)

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