Tang Studies 15-16 (1997-98) Tamed I{ite and Stranded Fish: Interference and Apology in Lu Chao-lin's fu PAUL W. KROLL UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO The so-called "Four Elites of the Early T/ang" (ch'u-T'ang szuchieh )/l namely Lu Chao-lin (ca.632-ca.685)/La Pin-wang ~3.i£~ (ca. 619-ca. 687)/Wang Po3:.:IJ1 (649-76)/and Yang Chiung ~1:fiiJ(650-95?) have of late been the subject of increasingly scholarly attention. This has included collective studies on all four writers, such as those by Shen Hui-Ie tt~~ and Ch/ien Wei-k/ang a{$mt,z Ko Hsiao-yin ~~lf/ La Hsiang-fa ~f¥:~/4 Shang Ting Mj;iE,5 Huang Ch/ing-hui This article is dedicated to John K. Villa, amicus certus et diuturnus. 1 Chieh 1m signifies something (be it plant, animal, or human) that stands out saliently from the crowd, rather equivalent to our egregious C~~i\lJ.49 (1992): 149-64. English-language studies and translations of individual T'angfu are not numerous. See, e.g., P.W. Kroll, "LiPo's Rhapsodyon the Great P'eng-bird," Journal of Chinese Religions 12 (1984): 1-17; Edward H. Schafer, "The Dance of the Purple Culmen," T'ang Studies 5 (1987): 45-68; David R. Knechtges, "The Old-Stylefu of Han Yii," T'ang Studies 13 (1995): 51-80. Stephen F. Teiser translates a portion (less than half) of Yang Chiung's fu on the Ullambana festival of 692, in his The Ghost Festival in Medieval China (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1988), 73-76. 10 A decade ago there were no annotated editions, traditional or modem, of Lu Chao-lin's works. Since then three have appeared, a sinological proof of Rupert Sheldrake's theory of morphic resonance. Each of these has its merits and none can be used to the exclusion of the others: Lu Clmo-lin chi pien-nien chien-elm liimU~ ~~1f.~tt, ed. Jen Kuo-hsil tE~t.tlf(Harbin: Hei-Iung-chiang jen-min ch'u-panshe , 1989; hereafter cited as Jen); Lu Chao-lin chi chien-chu lSjl;~~.~i:l:, ed. Chu Shang-shu:m~. (Shanghai: Shang-hai ku-chi ch/u-pan-she, 1994; hereafter cited as Chu); Lu Chao-lin chi chiao-chu fatJm~#u)a±, ed. Li Yiin-i $~tt (Peking: Chung-hua shu-chii, 1998) (hereafter cited as Li). Prior to this the best modem edition was that of Hsii Ming-hsia ~I!J3B, Lu Chao-lin chi, Yang Chiung chi 1&~~~IUJ!~. (Peking: Chung-hua shu-chii, 1980; hereafter cited as Hsil). 43 Kroll: Tamed Kite and Stranded Fish shy about bruiting their own virtues. In the case of Lu Chao-lin, his birth into the kin-group of the Lus of Fan-yang m:~,an old northeastern clan that was regarded as one of the five most prestigious in the empire,11must have contributed to an early sense of superiority. Although Chao-lin seems to have come from a minor branch of the clan,12he was able to be sent as a young boy to study successively under the great scholars Ts'ao Hsien W~ (fl. 605-49) and Wang 1fang I~1J (615-69), the one a master philologue and doyen of Wen hsiian :)(~ studies,13 the other a savant of the "Five Classics. "14 Lu 11 Besides the Lus and Fan-yang, these included the Ts'uis 1Eof Po-ling ~~, the Ts'uis of Ch'ing-ho miiiJ, the Lis -*of Chao-chiin Mim, and the Chengs ~ of Jungyang ~m. The Wangs 3::. of T'ai-yiian j,(Jn{, a bit farther west, were also often included among this top echelon. In 659 Kao-tsung, continuing his father T'aitsung 's attempts to diminish the power of these great clans that had been politically and socially influential for centuries and who thought themselves (and were generally regarded as) above even the imperial family, proscribed intermarriage among them. But this decree was ineffective and even seems to have added to their stature. Tzu-chih t'ung-chien 1{rfjjffiilff (Hong Kong: Chung-hua shu-chil, 1956), 200.6318; Hsin T'angshu iTh!fif...
Search from 250 M+ research papersSearch from 250 M+ research papers
Jun 1, 2000
Chun-Fang Yu + 1
