Fu (), often translated "rhapsody" or "poetic exposition", is a form of Chinese rhymed prose that was the dominant literary form in China during the Han dynasty (206 BCAD220). are intermediary pieces between poetry and prose in which a place, object, feeling, or other subject is described and rhapsodized in exhaustive detail and from as many angles as possible. They were not sung like songs, but were recited or chanted. The distinguishing characteristics of include alternating rhyme and prose, varying line lengths, close alliteration, onomatopoeia, loose parallelism, and extensive cataloging of their topics. Classical composers tended to use as wide a vocabulary as possible in their compositions, and therefore often contain rare and archaic Chinese words and characters.
The genre came into being around the 3rd to 2nd centuries BC and continued to be regularly used into the Song dynasty (9601279). were used as grand praises for the imperial courts, palaces, and cities, but were also used to write " on things", in which any place, object, or feeling was rhapsodized in exhaustive detail. The largest collections of historical are the Selections of Refined Literature (), the Book of Han, New Songs from the Jade Terrace, and official dynastic histories.
There is no counterpart or form similar to the genre in Western literature. During a large part of the 20th century, poetry was harshly criticized by Chinese scholars as excessively ornate, lacking in real emotion, and ambiguous in its moral messages. Because of these historical associations, scholarship on poetry in China almost ceased entirely between 1949 and the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976. Since then, study of has gradually returned to its previous level.
History
Origins The term "", when applied to Chinese literature, first appears in the Zhou dynasty ( 1046221 BC), where it meant "to present", as in poetic recitations. It was also one of the three literary devices traditionally assigned to the songs of the Classic of Poetry (Shijing). Over the course of the late 1st millennium BC, became the name of poetic expositions in which an author or composer created a comprehensive exposition and performed it as a rhapsody. Han dynasty historian Ban Gu in the "Monograph on Arts and Letters" defined as "to recite without singing" ().
poetry is often viewed as a descendant of the "Verses of Chu" (Chu Ci songs) and the rhetorical expositions of the Intrigues of the Warring States (Zhanguo ce). During the golden age of in the 2nd century BC, many of the greatest composers were from the southwestern area of Shu (modern Sichuan Province). A chapter of containing a series of riddles has been theorized to be the earliest known . The earliest preserved and definitely datable is Jia Yi's " on the Owl" (), composed about 170 BC. Jia's surviving writings mention an earlier he wrote upon his exile to Changsha which he modeled upon Qu Yuan's "Encountering Sorrow" (Li Sao), but it has not survived to the present.
Han dynasty
Western Han achieved its greatest prominence during the early Han dynasty. Jia Yi's " on the Owl", written around 170 BC, was composed following on the third year of his exile to Changsha, and uses much of the style of the Li Sao and other songs of the Verses of Chu. " on the Owl", besides being the earliest known , is unusual in the author's extended use of philosophical reflection upon his own situation in life.
Emperor Wu of Han ascended the throne in 141 BC, and his 54-year reign is considered the golden age of "grand " (). Emperor Wu summoned famous writers to the imperial court in Chang'an, where many of them composed and presented to the entire court. The earliest grand of Emperor Wu's reign is "Seven Stimuli" (), by Mei Sheng (; d. 140 BC). In "Seven Stimuli", Mei Sheng acts as a Warring States-style travelling orator who tries to cure a Chu prince of an illness caused by overindulgence in sensual pleasures by pushing his senses to their limits with his descriptions.
Of all the authors from the golden age of "grand " composition, Sima Xiangru is generally considered to be the greatest. A native of Chengdu, he was traditionally said to have been summoned to the imperial court after Emperor Wu happened to personally read his " of Sir Vacuous" (), though this is almost certainly a story added later. After arriving in the capital around 136 BC, Sima Xiangru expanded his " of Sir Vacuous" into his magnum opus, " on the Imperial Park" (), generally considered the most famous of all. This work, whose original title was probably " on the Excursion Hunt of the Son of Heaven" (), is a grand celebration of the Emperor's personal hunting park east of Chang'an, and is famed for its rich number of rare and difficult words and characters. If not for the survival of Chinese scholar Guo Pu's early 4th century AD annotations to " on the Imperial Park", much of its ancient and esoteric terminology would now be unintelligible. The following portion of the rhymed list of names of minerals, precious stones, and flora and fauna from the first half of the " on the Imperial Park" exemplifies much of the cataloging and rare terminology characteristic of grand :
The grand of the Western Han dynasty were read and recited as celebrations of pure poetic delight, and were the first pieces of Chinese literature to fuse both unrestrained entertainment and moral admonitions together in single works. However, after the reign of Emperor Wu, his court culture began to be criticized as having placed undue emphasis on the grandiose language in and therefore having missed opportunities to encourage moral restraint. The most prominent critic of "grand " was the other great writer of the Han dynasty: Yang Xiong. As a youth, Yang was an admirer and imitator of Sima Xiangru's , but later came to disapprove of grand . Yang believed that the original purpose of was to "indirectly admonish" (), but that the extended rhetorical arguments and complex vocabulary used in grand caused their hearers and readers to marvel at their aesthetic beauty while missing their moral messages. Yang juxtaposed early Han dynasty with the -like expositions in the Classic of Poetry, saying that while those in the Poetry provided moral standards, the of the Han poets "led to excess". While known as one of the masters of the Han dynasty, Yang's are generally known for their focus on admonishing readers and listeners to uphold moral values.
Eastern Han Two of the most famous writers of the Eastern Han period were the polymaths Zhang Heng and Cai Yong. Among Zhang Heng's large corpus of writings are a significant number of poems, which are the first to have been written in the shorter style that became typical of post-Han . Zhang's earliest known is " on the Hot Springs" (), which describes the hot springs at Mount Li (modern Huaqing Pool) which famously later became a favorite of Imperial Concubine Yang during the Tang dynasty. " on the Two Metropolises" () is considered Zhang's masterpiece. Zhang spent ten years gathering material for the , a response to an earlier by Ban Gu that is a poetic comparison between the two capitals of the Han dynasty: Luoyang and Chang'an. Zhang's is highly satirical and cleverly mocks many aspects of the Western Han period, including Emperor Wu himself The piece contains long passages colorfully describing life in the two capitals in great detail, including the entertainment areas.
Cai Yong, like Zhang Heng, was a prolific writer in addition to his mathematical, astronomical, and musical interests. In 159 CE, Cai was summoned to Chang'an to perform on the guqin for the imperial court, but became ill shortly before arriving and returned to his home. Cai composed a poetic record of his journey in " on Recounting a Journey" (), his most well-known . In " on Recounting a Journey", Cai cites examples of treacherous and dishonest rulers and officials from Chinese history, then criticizes the eunuchs of the capital for similar crimes.
A number of writers from the late 2nd and early 3rd centuries CE became considered great poets, and were noted for their descriptions of the chaos and destruction following the collapse of the Han dynasty. Wang Can, who lived as a refugee in Chu following the assassination of Dong Zhuo in 192 CE, wrote a famous entitled " on Climbing the Tower" () in which Wang movingly describes climbing a tower near Jingzhou and gazing longingly in the direction of his home in Luoyang. Poets often used subjects of descriptive poems to symbolize themselves, as in " on the Parrot" (), by Mi Heng, in which Mi uses a caged parrot as an allegory for a scholar whose talents go unrecognized and whose inability to control his tongue results in his captivity. During the Three Kingdoms period, the court of the warlord Cao Cao and his sons Cao Pi and Cao Zhi became a famous literary salon, and a number of poems from their court have survived to modern times.
Six Dynasties
During the Six Dynasties period (220589), remained a major part of contemporary poetry, although shi poetry was gradually increasing in popularity. Six Dynasties are generally much shorter and less extravagant than Han dynasty , likely due to a tradition of composing works entirely in parallel couplets that arose during the period. While lyrical and " on things" had been starkly different forms in the Han dynasty, after the 2nd century CE the distinction mostly disappeared. Although the extravagant style of the Han mostly disappeared, " on things" continued to be widely written.
Xie Lingyun is one of the best-known poets of the entire Six Dynasties period, second only to Tao Yuanming. In contrast to his older contemporary Tao, Xie is known for the difficult language, dense allusions, and frequent parallelisms of his poetry. Xie's greatest is " on Dwelling in the Mountains" (), a Han-style "grand " describing Xie's personal estate that borrows its style from the famous " on the Imperial Park" by Sima Xiangru. Like classical Han , the poem uses a large number of obscure and rare characters, but " on Dwelling in the Mountains" is unique in that Xie included his own annotations to the poem, without which the poem would be nearly incomprehensible.
During the Liang dynasty (502587), continued to be a popular form of literature, though it began to merge with the popular five- and seven-syllable poetry forms, which completely eclipsed during the Tang dynasty. Some pieces, such as Shen Yue's " on Dwelling in the Suburbs" ()an homage to Xie Lingyun's " on Dwelling in the Mountains"followed the traditional forms and subjects of classical , but an increasing number did not. " on Lotus-picking" (), by Xiao Gang (later Emperor Jianwen of Liang), is a short, lyrical that mixes freely with popular lyric poetry, and portrayed southern China as a romantic land of pleasure and sensuality. Lotus-picking was an activity traditionally associated with peasant women, but in the early 5th century became a popular topic in and poetry.
Yu Xin is generally considered the last great poet of Chinese history. Yu, like Yan Zhitui, was born in the south but forced to relocate to northern China after the south's defeat, and spent the rest of his career writing of the loss of the south as a loss of an entire culture and way of life. Yu's most famous piece is " on Lamenting the South" (), in which he describes his life's experiences in the context of the larger context of the destruction of the south and its culture.
Tang and Song dynasties