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DU FU 杜甫 ON THE HAN DYNASTY: A MEDIEVAL VIEW OF THE CLASSICAL CHINESE EMPIRE

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 October 2022

David McMullen
David McMullen*
Affiliation:
David McMullen, 麥大維, Cambridge University; email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Du Fu, one of the two most celebrated poets of the Tang, was very much a product of his era in the way that he found a usable past in Han-dynasty verse, episodes, and people. From 750 on, his writings were replete with allusions to the Han, some subtle and others more forthright. Taken together, these allusions suggest his firm beliefs in the course of history determined by human moral agency, in morality as “a man's own charge”; also in the role of fate determining the succession of dynasties, even as he deplored the workings of capricious fate on individual lives. Such beliefs are unremarkable in content, being much closer to conventional Tang concepts of the individual than most commentaries on Du Fu allow.

提要

提要

杜甫，唐代最著名的兩位詩人之一，是他所處時代的產物。尤其，他認為漢代的事件、形勢與人物對於當下是有意義的。從 750 年開始，他的作品以或隱晦或顯白的方式，大量採取漢代典故。總合來看，這些典故呈現出杜甫的以下信念：人的道德主體性決定歷史進程；道德掌握在人的手中；而朝代更替自有命數——即使他為無常命運下的個人際遇而扼腕。這些觀念在內容上並無突出之處；它們非常接近唐代普遍的觀念，而過往的杜甫注家往往未能充分呈現這一點。

Keywords

Du FuTangreception of the exemplary pastpoetic allusions杜甫唐代修辭過往典範的接受詩中典故文學典故
Type
Festschrift in Honor of Michael Loewe on his 100th Birthday
Information
Early China , Volume 45 , September 2022 , pp. 87 - 133
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Society for the Study of Early China

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References

1. Difei, Xiao 蕭滌非 et al. , eds., Du Fu quanji jiaozhu 杜甫全集校注 (Beijing: Renmin wenxue, 2014)Google Scholar, 12 vols. (hereafter Quanji), 11.22.6373–80, dated to autumn 751 c.e., citing Han figures.

2. McMullen, David, State and Scholars in T’ang China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), 174Google Scholar, 337–38nn56–60.

3. Fengshi wenjian ji 封氏聞見記 (ed. in Harvard Yenching Sinological Index Series), 3.12 lists: “Zhu Shiji 注史記, in 130 juan and Shi ji yilin 史記義林, in 20 juan, by Li Zhen 李鎮; Zhu Hou Han shu 注後漢書, in 95 juan, by Gao Qiao 高嶠; also Shi Han yi yi 史漢異議, in 2 juan, by Pei Jie 裴傑, presented to court in 739.”

4. Da Tang xin yu 大唐新語 (Taipei: Ren’ai, 1985), 11.173.

5. E.g., in the anthology of court verse Zhu ying ji 珠英集, a poem by Liu Zhiji 劉知幾 (661–721) “Du Han shu zuo, yi shou” 讀漢書作一首; and by Wang Wujing 王無競 (652–706), “Yong Han Wudi, yi shou” 詠漢武帝一首. See Fu Xuancong 傅璇琮, Chen Shangjun 陳尚君, and Xu Jun 徐俊, eds., Tangren xuan Tang shi xin bian zengding ben 唐人選唐詩新編增訂本 (hereafter Tangren xuan) (Beijing: Zhonghua, 2014), 74–75.

6. Zhanzhao, Liu, ed., 劉占召, Shi tong pingzhu 史通屏注 (Beijing: Zhongyang bianyi, 2010), esp. 1.24–34Google Scholar.

7. McMullen, State and Scholars, 223–25.

8. Pulleyblank, Edwin G., “Neo-Confucianism and Neo-Legalism in T’ang Intellectual Life, 755–805,” in The Confucian Persuasion, ed. Wright, Arthur F. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1960), 93–103Google Scholar.

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12. McMullen, David, “Historical and Literary Theory in the Mid-Eighth Century,” in Perspectives on the T’ang, ed. Wright, Arthur F. and Twitchett, Denis (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1973), 322–25Google Scholar. Xiao Yingshi’s letter is undated and could well have been written after the court incident described below.

13. Jiu Tang shu, 23.898–99. Cf. Wechsler, Howard J., Offerings of Jade and Silk (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985), 136–41Google Scholar.

14. Zizhi tongjian 資治通鑑, 216.6899–900. See also Du You, Tong dian, juan 74; and Tang hui yao 唐會要 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1955), compiled by Wang Pu 王溥 (Taipei: Shijie, 1968), 3 vols., juan 24.

15. McMullen, State and Scholars, 223–25.

16. A decree examination (zhi ke 制科) is distinguished from a ‘recurrent examination’ (chang ke 常科), an annual examination, success at which was a qualification before appointment to a post.

17. Quanji, 1.2.328–38; Stephen Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu (Boston: DeGruyter, 2016), 6 vols., vol. 1, 100–105, Poem 2.31.

18. Quanji, 11.6132–65, esp. 6135–36n1; cf. Du Fu nianpu jianbian, 6523, in Quanji, appendix.

19. See especially Nicholas Morrow Williams, “Sashimi and History: On a New Translation of Du Fu,” China Review International 21 (2014), 201–44, esp. 212–17. Cf. Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 365–66, “Allusions”; Hans H. Frankel, “The Contemplation of the Past in T’ang Poetry,” in Perspectives, ed. Wright and Twitchett, 358–63, for allusions in Du Fu’s “Yong huai guji, wushou” 詠懷古蹟、五首 (766); Quanji, 7.13.3841–62.

20. Quanji, 10.19.5784–88; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 6, 68–71, Poem 22.47 (769); Quanji, 10.20.5858, for the opinion of Wang Sishi 王嗣奭.

21. Quanji, 8.16.4813–22, Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 5, 188–93, Poem 19.40 (767).

22. Quanji, 3.6. 1642–65; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 2, 206–15, Poem 8.21 [hereafter Poem I].

23. Quanji, 8.16.4834–92; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 5, 192–211, Poem 19.41 [hereafter Poem II].

24. Jiu Tang shu 舊唐書 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1975), 95.3016–17.

25. For Zheng and his father Yao, see Jiu Tang shu 95.3016–18; cf. Ce fu yuan gui 冊府元龜 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1960), 144.13a, listing Zheng Yao as a high-level proxy ritual celebrant. For Li Zhifan, see Jiu Tang shu, 196A.5237–39.

26. Quanji, 1.1.92–94; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 26–29, Poem 1.23 (745). See Jiu Tang shu 196A.5237–39, for Li’s skill at five-word verse, for which “the imperial clan put him forward.”

27. Du Fu’s poems on meeting Zheng and Li at Jingzhou are listed in Quanji, 8.16.4857–58, n. 49. Poem II was printed in full, though without translation, by James Legge, The Chinese Classics, Vol. IV, The She King or Book of Poetry (London: Oxford University Press, preface dated 1871), 123–25. For Du Fu’s intention to leave Kuizhou, which he considered barbarous and dangerous, see his fine poem Quanji, 7.14.3940–43; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 4, 202–5, Poem 15.57 (766); and n. 168 below. For an important study of Du Fu’s Kuizhou period verses, see Gregory M. Patterson, “History Channels: Commemoration and Communication in Du Fu’s Kuizhou Poems,” in Reading Du Fu: Nine Views, ed. Xiaofei Tian (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2020), 41–55.

28. Quanji, 10.20.6093–108; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 6, 237–38, Poem 23.49 (770) (hereafter Poem III).

29. Christopher M. B. Nugent, “Sources of Difficulty: Reading and Understanding Du Fu,” in Reading Du Fu: Nine Views, ed. Xiaofei Tian (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2020), 111–28.

30. Quanji, 11.21.6218–19 at nn. 77–78; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 6, 292–93, line 164. Du Fu was here referring to Shi ji 史記 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1979), 7.305, “As fierce as tigers, as quarrelsome as goats, as greedy as wolves” (猛如虎，很如羊，貪如狼).

31. Quanji, 11.21.6219, n. 79. Du Fu here deployed the precise wording of Han shu, 45.2181.

32. Quanji, 1.1.184–99; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 344–47, Poem 5.28 (after 750); Shi ji, 8.389. See Martin Kern, “The Poetry of Han Historiography,” Early Medieval China 10–11.1 (2004), 26, 41.

33. Quanji, 10.20.5876–86; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 6, 127–31, Poem 23.3 (769). For Liu Wenjing and Pei Ji, paired in Jiu Tang shu, see Jiu Tang shu 57.2285–95, and historian’s assessment on p. 2303. Xiao He and Cao Shen had been paired by Ban Gu in his “Liang du fu” 兩都賦; see Hou Han shu 40A.1321 and 1344n13. Both men were from Pei 沛, the native place of the Western Han founder. See also Zizhi tongjian, 183.5730.

34. Quanji, 6.11.3240–45; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 3, 408–11, Poem 13.73 (764). Also, Quanji, 6.11.3021–25; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 3, 336–37, Poem 13.25 (764).

35. Quanji, 1.2.494–99; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 160–61, Poem 3.27 (754). For Feng Tang, see SJ 102.2757–61 and Han shu, 50.2312–15; also, Michael Loewe, A Biographical Dictionary of the Qin, Former Han and Xin Periods (221 B.C.–A.D. 24) (Leiden: Brill, 2000), 101.

36. Zizhi tongjian, 221.7096; cf. Yuan Cishan ji, 7.109 (“Lü gong biao” 呂公表).

37. Quanji, 5.10.2982–85; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 3, 284–87, Poem 12.79 (763). Han Wudi’s southern progress had been in 106 b.c.e.. See Zizhi tongjian, 21.692; Han shu, 6.196. See also Quanji, 4.8.2061–73, Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 2, 32–35, Poem 9.51 (late 760).

38. Quanji, 4.8.2061–73, Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 2, 332–35, Poem 9.51; cf. Hou Han shu, 6.249–50.

39. Quanji, 6.12.3473–76; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 2, 332–35, Poem 9.51; Hung, Tu Fu, 217, cited Poem CCLXVI.

40. Denis Twitchett and Michael Loewe, eds., The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 1: The Ch’in and Han Empires, 221 B.C.–A.D. 220 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 246–56.

41. Quanji, 2.3.824–29; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 286–87, Poem 5.5 (summer 757).

42. Quanji, 2.3.896–98; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 308–9, Poem 5.12 (757). The designation shen bing 神兵 first occurs in Hou Han shu, 71.3203–4; Hou Han shu, 86.2843, where it is used to describe armies that defeated the non-Chinese Qiang 羌.

43. Quanji, 2.3.833–40; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 286–91, Poem 5.6 (757); Quanji, 2.3.841–48; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 296–99, Poem 5.8 (757).

44. Quanji, 2.3.875–89; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 308–14, Poem 5.13 (757): 艱難須上策 / 容易即前程.

45. Also, Quanji, 2.3.824–40; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 284–86, Poems 5.3–5.5. Here, the phrase xingzaisuo is taken from Hou Han shu 後漢書 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1965), 1A.15 (更始立光武為蕭王悉罷兵詣行在所). For Guangwudi as sili 司隸, see Hou Han shu, 1A.9; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 2, 284–87, Poems 5.3–5. The final couplet is: 今朝漢社稷 / 新數中興年.

46. Quanji, 2.4.943–71; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 333–45, Poem 5.27 (ninth month 757). See lines 127–28: 周漢獲再興 / 宣光果明哲. Cf. Shi ji, 4.170.

47. Quanji, 11.21.6168 and 6185–86nn71–72; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 6, 276–77, lines 158–59. The double nature of King Xuan’s reputation arises from the Han interpretations of two Odes believed to have referred to him. See James Legge’s annotation in The Chinese Classics, Vol. IV, The She King or Book of Poetry on “Liu yue” 六月, 281, for King Xuan as “a monarch of great merit”; and “Huang niao” 黃鳥, 301, traditionally written “in condemnation of king Seuen” [Xuan]). See also n. 55 below.

48. Quanji, 23.841–48; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 296–99, Poem 5.8 (summer 757): 漢運初中興 / 平生老耽酒.

49. Hou Han shu, 1B.86.

50. Supposedly, the Hou Han shu refers to Zhangdi’s gift of stored rice “to the people” (章帝分梁漢儲米給民), but I am unable to trace the citation in Quanji, 3.1651n22.

51. Han shu, 8.242 and n. 1. The original Han sources suggest the income was given to the people. The Tang record suggests that both the grain and the newly minted coinage were given to the officials.

52. Quanji, 3.5.1252–76; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 2, 74–81, Poem 6.55 (759). Zizhi tongjian, 221.7068–70.

53. Quanji, 4.7.1759–70; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 2, 250–53, Poem 8.38 (759).

54. Quanji, 5.10.2856–62; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 3, 236–39, Poem 12.40 (763). Quanji, 5.10.2866–70; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 3, 246–48, Poem 12.47. For Zhu You, see Hou Han shu, 22.769–71 and the lun 論 (pp. 787–88). Suzong in the crisis of 756 at Lingwu 靈武, praising Du Fu’s clansman Du Hongjian 杜鴻漸 (709–69) had compared him to both Xiao He and Kou Xi; see Wen yuan ying hua 文苑英華 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1966), 885.3a.

55. Poem II; Quanji, 8.16.4848. The commentary sees this referring to loyalist commanders Li Guangbi 李光弼 (708–764) and Guo Ziyi 郭子儀 (697–781).

56. Poem II, Quanji, 8.16.4836; see 4848n27. But cf. n. 46 above, where Du Fu cites King Xuan for cautionary reasons, and n. 59 below.

57. E.g., Quanji, 7.14.4129–44; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 4, 292–99, Poem 16.15 (766).

58. Quanji, 8.15.4527–28; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 5, 106–7, Poem 18.83 (767).

59. Quanji, 10.20.6048–56, esp. 6051n7; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 6, 212–27, Poem 23.42 (770). Cf. She king, “Dang zhi shen” 蕩之什, “Zheng min” 蒸民, 541–45. Du Fu is quoting the preface: 任賢使能 / 周室中興焉.

60. Zhenguan zheng yao 貞觀政要, ed. Xie Baocheng 謝保成 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 2003), 82–146.

61. E.g., in 756, Suzong; see Zizhi tongjian, 219.7001; in 765, by Daizong, with a response by Dugu Ji; see Piling ji, 4.5a–9a; Zizhi tongjian, 223.7172–73.

62. Poem I, 1653n30; Quanji, 7.14.4083–110; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 6, 302–13, Poem 16.18; Han shu 82.3375–79, biography of Shi Dan 史丹.

63. Quanji, 4.8.2061–73; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 2, 332–35, Poem 9.51 (late 760). See also San guo zhi 三國志, Wei zhi 魏志 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1959), 25.697; Quanji, 4.8.2061–73; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 2, 332–35, Poem 9.52 (760); Quanji, 8.16.4725; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 4, 320–25, Poem 17.1 (ninth month 767).

64. See also Quanji, 6.12.3425; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 4, 62–63, Poem 14.51 (765). See also Quanji, 10.19.5542–56, 5544n3; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 5, 444–51, Poem 21.68 (768); Han shu, 67.2913–17.

65. Quanji, 6.12.3425–28; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 4, 62–63; Poem 14.51 (766); Quanji, 10.19.5542–56; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 5, 444–51, Poem 21.68 (768). For Zhu Yun, see Han shu, 67.2912–17; Zizhi tongjian, 32.1033–34.

66. Quanji, 5.9.2560–65; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 3, 106–9, Poem 11.3 (763): 汲黯匡君切 / 廉頗出將頻 / 直詞才不世 / 雄略動如神. For Lian Bo, see Shi ji, 81.2439–49; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 373, also provides references.

67. Quanji, 6.11.3168–71; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 3, 364–65, Poem 13.44 (spring 764).

68. For Huo Qubing, see Shi ji, 111.2928–39. For Wei Qing, see Shi ji, 111.2921–28.

69. Quanji, 7.14.3981–96; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 4, 248–55, Poem 16.8 (766). Zizhi tongjian, 223.7167.

70. Quanji, 7.14.3949–50; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 5, 224–25, Poem 20.2 (766).

71. Quanji, 8.16.4813–22; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 5, 188–93, Poem 19.40 (767). See David L. McMullen, “Du Fu’s Political Perspectives: His Outlook on Governorships and his Response to Yuan Jie’s Daozhou Verses,” Tang Studies 37 (2019), 1–31.

72. Han shu, 81.3331–46, biography of Kuang Heng. The reading ding 鼎 was problematic for commentators. For Fu Qian, see Hou Han shu, 79B.2583.

73. Quanji, 1.2.481–84; Han shu, 67.2917–27; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 150–51, Poem 3.21; also, Loewe, Biographical Dictionary, 434–35. For a later, striking confirmation that Pei Qiu was a fearless remonstrator, see Han Changli ji 韓昌黎集 (Hong Kong: Shangwu, 1973), 24.76–77.

74. Quanji, 1.2.184–98, 188–89n6; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 344–47, Poem 5.28 (“probably after 750”). For the expression and Li Shan’s gloss, see Wen xuan 文選 (reprint of Guoxue jiben congshu ed.) (Taipei: Qiming, 1960), 4.51.

75. Quanji, 7.1.4129–44; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 4, 292–99, Poem 16.15 (766). The commentary refers to an edict in the Han shu biography of Chao Cuo 晁錯 (d. 154 b.c.e.); Han shu, 49.2290.

76. Quanji, 10.20.5901–7; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 6, 133–35, Poem 23.4 (winter 769).

77. Quanji, 10.20.5871–76; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 6, 140–45, Poem 23.7 (770).

78. Quanji, 11.6133; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 6, 248–49, lines 68–69, and 78–79.

79. Quanji, 11.221.6166; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 6, 262–77, lines 6–7, 10–13.

80. Quanji, 2.3.668–69; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 208–17, Poem 4.6 (late winter 755). Du Fu’s language echoes diction derived from Hou Han shu; see Hou Han shu, 58.1880, biography of Gai Xun 蓋勳: 取笑朝廷; also, Hou Han shu, 41.1409.

81. E.g., Quanji, 8.5.4489–96; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 5, 94–99, Poem 18.70 (767 at Kuizhou); cf. Han shu, 85.3449.

82. Quanji, 2.4.943–71; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 332–43, Poem 5.27 (ninth month 757); Han shu, 37.1977, biography of Ji Bu 季布.

83. Quanji, 6.11.3070–74; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 3, 194–95, Poem 11.76 (764); Quanji, 8.15.4161–80; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 4, 285–93, Poem 16.14 (767).

84. E.g., Han shu, 89.3631.

85. Quanji, 7.13.3619–25; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 4, 154–57, Poem 15.26 (766). Zhao Hailing 趙海菱, Du Fu yu Rujia wenhua chuantong yanjiu 杜甫與儒家文化傳統研究 (Jinan: Qi Lu shushe, 2007), 178, quotes a poem from Huayang guo zhi 華陽國志 (reign of Huandi) as a precedent for Du Fu’s description of local tax gatherers; see also Quanji, 9.17.5161–63; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 5, 302–3, Poem 20.82 (767).

86. Shi ji, 4.133, a statement attributed to the Duke of Zhou; repeated in Shi ji, 99.2716, biography of Liu Jing 劉敬. Cf. Shi ji, 10.422.

87. Shi ji, 4.133, a statement attributed to the Duke of Zhou; repeated in Shi ji, 99.2716, biography of Liu Jing. Cf. Shi ji, 10.422. For phrasing in imperial edicts of this period, see Tang da zhaoling ji 唐大詔令集 (Shanghai: Commercial Press, 1959), 84.480, edict of 759: 朕恭臨寶位憂念黎元; and 84.481, edict of 761: 朕所以親帥公卿躬行節儉.

88. Zizhi tongjian, 22.739–42. See Jiu Tang shu 80.2756, memorial of 644 by Chu Suiliang 褚遂良 (596–658); Jiu Tang shu 185A.4790, memorial of 663 by Li Junqiu 李君球; Piling ji 毘陵集 (ed. in Sibu congkan), 4.7a, memorial dated to 765, and 5.12b, memorial dated to 773 by Dugu Ji 獨孤及 (725–777). Also Tang da zhaoling ji 84.481–82 and Cefu yuan gui 87.19a, imperial clemency edict of 762.

89. Han shu, 96B.3928–30, 3932; Quanji, 2.4.979–88; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 356–59, Poem 5.33 (757).

90. Quanji, 6.3070–71; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 3, 194–95, Poem 11.76 (764). Daizong’s edict is linked to Liu Kang’s 柳伉 charge that the eunuch general Cheng Yuanzhen 程元振 be blamed for the Tibetan incursion. See Zizhi tongjian, 223.7155 for details.

91. Poem II, referring to Han shu, 96B.3912–14 and Han shu, 96B.3928–29. The phrase si lun 絲綸 comes from Li ji 禮記, “Ziyi” chapter: 王言如絲. 其出如綸. Cf. also Han shu, 23.1096.

92. Quanji, 7.14,4046–83; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 4, 280–85, Poem 16.13 (766). For Huang Ba, see his biography in Han shu, 89.3627–35.

93. Quanji, 8.16.4892–914; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 5, 212–19, Poem 19.42 (767).

94. For Wen Weng, see Han shu, 89.3625–27. For Yan Wu, see Quanji, 7.14.3981–96; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 4, 248–55, Poem 16.8. Quanji, 6.11.3124–26; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 3, 344–35, Poem 13.32 (764).

95. For Li Changkui, Governor of Jianzhou, see Quanji, 9.5418–20; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 3, 334–35, Poem 13.24 (768).

96. Quanji, 10.20.6048–56; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 6, 212, Poem 23.42 (770).

97. Quanji, 3.5.1280–24; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 2, 82–97, Poems 7.1–7.6.

98. Eva Chou has provided a significant analysis on Du Fu’s use of the yuefu tradition. This turns on the distinction she makes between realistic and specific accounts of popular misery, for which the natural vehicle was “ancient style” (gu shi 古詩) verse and generalized treatments for which the yuefu style was the main model. See Chapter 2 in Reconsidering Tu Fu: Literary Greatness and Cultural Context (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 61–106.

99. Quanji, 8.15.4511–12; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 5, 100–1, Poem 18.74 (767). Owen translates the term “street songs.”

100. Quanji, 9.18.5288–92, 5291n11; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 5, 336–39, Poem 20.10 (767). See also Hou Han shu, 27A.3281 (“Wuxing zhi” 五行志). Some of Du Fu’s couplets stating that conventional morality had perished are listed in 5291n12.

101. Quanji, 5.9.2600–3; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 3, 124–25, Poem 11.23 (762). Cf. Hou Han shu, 27A.3281 (“Wuxing zhi” 五行志).

102. Quanji, 3.5.1164–73; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 108–11, Poem 7.14 (758); Han shu, 96B.3903; Jiu Tang shu, 195.5200.

103. Quanji, 4.7.1707–11; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 2, 234–37, Poem 8.28 (759). See Quanji, 7.1708, n. 2; also, Wen xuan, 29.401, 404.

104. Quanji, 3.5.1299–307; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 2, 88–91, Poem 7.4 (759). Wen xuan, 29.403.

105. Cf. also Quanji, 6.12.3583–90; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 4, 140–43, Poem 15.18 (766). See also Wen xuan, 29.403; Han shu, 89.3641.

106. Quanji, 5.9.2720–23; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 3, 172–73, Poem 11.59 (762).

107. Wen xuan, 23.498; Wang Can, “Qi ai shi”; Du Fu in Quanji, 6.11.3240–45; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 3, 408–11, Poem 13.73 (764), has 傷心不忍問, where Wang has 遠身適荊蠻. Du Fu in Quanji, 5.10.3005–11; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 3, 296–301, Poem 12.85 (763), has 終作適荊蠻, where Wang has 獨夜不能寐. Du Fu in Quanji, 9.17.5191–94; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 5, 274–75, Poem 20.55 (767), has 天寒不成. See also David K. Schneider, Confucian Prophet: Political Thought in Du Fu’s Poetry (752–757) (Amherst, NY: Cambria Press, 2012), 138–41.

108. Quanji, 1.1.241–44; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 82–83, Poem 2.14 (late in the Tianbao reign period).

109. Quanji, 10.20.6099n19. Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 6, 232, Poem III. Cf. Wen xuan, 28.395; however, this is probably merely intended here as a song sung by an old man concerned with his relatives. Cf. also Quanji, 8.15.4470–77; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 5, 86–89, Poem 18.65, 4472n4.

110. Quanji, 5.10.3005–11; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 3, 297–301, Poem 12.85 (763).

111. Quanji, 2.3.636–38; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 224–31, Poem 4.9; Quanji, 9.17.5067–68; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 5, 242–43, Poem 20.20 (767): 閭閻聽小子 / 談話覔封侯. For “enfeoffing of a marquis” in recognition of military success, see, e.g., Han shu, 1B.59.

112. Quanji, 1.1.250–51; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 86–87, Poem 2.19 (754–755); also Han shu, 96B.3930.

113. Quanji, 1.1.152–66; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 62–65, Poem 2.30 (c. 747–750); Han shu biography of Yan Zhu 嚴助. The scholar was Dou Xian 竇憲 (d. 92 c.e.); see Hou Han shu, 23.812–20, for his biography. For Feng Yi 馮異, see Quanji, 1.1.50, n. 4; Hou Han shu, 17.639–52. See also Yang, “Historical Notes,” 23, 29.

114. Quanji, 1.2.563–75; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 140–45, Poem 3.16 (754). See also Quanji, 8.16.4786–802; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 5, 180–85, Poem 19.38 (767).

115. For the Dog Rong 犬戎, see Quanji and, e.g., Shi ji, 4.118. For chailang 豺狼, see Quanji, 7.14.4083–110, Poem 16.18 (766); and Quanji, 2.3.833–49; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 286–91, Poem 5.6 (757); Hou Han shu, 41.1416. For hu lang 虎狼, see Quanji, “Yonghuai, er shou” 詠懷、二首, and Han shu, 64B.2814.

116. For xiaojing 梟獍, see Quanji, 6.11.3141–51, 3143n9, citing Han shu, 25A.1218–19; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 3, 350–57, Poem 13.39 (764).

117. Poem II, Quanji, 8.16.4835 and 4850n32; Shi ji, 27.1305–6, glossed by Zhang Shoujie’s 張守節 commentary; cf. Han shu, 26.1278.

118. Quanji, 10.19.5557–68, 5560n6: (767). Also Quanji, 10.20.6048–56; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 6, 212–27, Poem 23.42 (770).

119. Shi ji, 30.1428; Han shu, 6.177; Quanji, 7.13.3824–30; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 4, 358–59, Poem 17.32 (766), Poem I, 1646n7. See also Mei Tsu-lin 梅祖麟 and Kao Yu-kung 高友工, “Tu Fu’s ‘Autumn Meditations’: An Exercise in Linguistic Criticism,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 28 (1968), 60. Cf. Wen yuan ying hua, 710.4a–5a for record of a feast at the lake in 730 or 731; Shuofu 説孚 (Siku quanshu ed.) 46B.4a, for the lake as a place for recreation associated with Xuanzong.

120. The burnt-out city of Luoyang had been described by Cao Zhi 曹植 (192–232). See Cao Zijian ji 曹子健 (Siku quanshu ed.) 5.2b.

121. Quanji, 9.18.5418–20; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 3, 334–35, Poem 13.24 (768).

122. For Du Fu’s references to Zhang Qian, see Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 388.

123. Wen xuan, 1.12.

124. For Wei Qing, see Han shu, 58.2633; Han shu, 55.2471–77, Poem II, 4849–50n31.

125. Quanji, 10.2.6102, n. 31; Jiu Tang shu, 11.289–90; Xin Tangshu, 6.174; Zizhi tongjian, 224.7207.

126. Quanji, 6.11.3236–40; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 3, 406–9, Poem 13.72; Han shu, 25B.1262 and 12n6.

127. Wen xuan 8.106–13 (“Shanglin fu” 上林賦).

128. Shi ji, 27.1348: 死人如亂麻.

129. Quanji, 3.6.1642, Poem I. In referring to Jia Zhi as the “talented one from Changsha” 長沙才子, he was citing Xizheng fu 西征賦, by Pan Yue 潘岳 (247–300), in which Jia Yi 賈誼 is referred to as the “talented one of Luoyang” 洛陽之才子. See Wen xuan, 10.21.

130. Wen xuan, 13.181–83.

131. Poem III, Quanji, 10.20.6096, n. 9. For Du Fu’s other references to Jia Yi, see Zhao Hailing, Du Fu yu Ru jia wen hua, 203–4, entries 38–50; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 373.

132. See Hou Han shu, 83.2763–64.

133. Hou Han shu, 24.827–53; Quanji, 6.11.3021–25; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 3, 336–37, Poem 13.25 (764). Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 373, lists eight other references to Ma Yuan.

134. Shi ji, 120.3112.

135. Quanji, 1.1.148–52; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 42–43, citing “Zeng bi bu Xiao langzhong shi xiong” 贈比部蕭郎中十兄.

136. See Hou Han shu, 67.2191–97; see also Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 372.

137. Quanji, 1.1.204; cf. Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 66–67, Poem 2.7 (753); David McMullen, “The Emperor as Court Poet,” in Ambition and Anxiety: Courts and Courtly Discourse, c. 700–1600, ed. Giles E. M. Gasper and John McKinnell (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 2014), 43–44.

138. Quanji, 6.11.3061; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 3, 190–91, Poem 11.72. Han shu, 61.2687–93. He was detained by the Xiongnu for “more than ten years.” For Li Zhifang, see Xin Tang shu, 216.6087–88.

139. Quanji, 11.22.6373–80 (751). Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 375, lists twelve references. Hou Han shu, 83.2776–77.

140. Quanji, 1.1.103–106; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 32–33, Poem 1.27 (746). For a prose reference, see Quanji, 11.22.63736–80 (autumn 754). For Pang, see Hou Han shu, 83.2776–77, biography.

141. Robert des Rotours, Traite des founctionaires er de l’armee (Leiden: Brill, 1947–48), vol. II, 727.

142. Du Fu also cited Yuan Xian in his entreaty (ganye 干謁) poem to Wei Ji 韋濟 (687–754); Quanji, 1.2.276–94; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 48–53, Poem 1.25 (752).

143. See n. 31 on Quanji, 3.6.1653–54. Hou Han shu, 79B.2583. The homonymic characters fu 服 and fu 伏 were interchangeable in antiquity.

144. Quanji, 7.14.4110–19; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 4, 298–303, Poem 16.16 (766). Here Du Fu’s reference has been controverted, but it may be to Li Mi 李泌 (722–789), who counseled Suzong to accept the throne at Lingwu. See Quanji, 7.14.4117–18.

145. In Poem II, see Quanji, 8.16.4836; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 5, 203, lines 93–94.

146. Quanji, 8.15.4486–89; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 5, 98–99, Poem 18.71, with a different title (767).

147. Quanji, 10.20.5887–89 and 10.20.5889–98; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 6, 148–53, Poems 23.9 and 23.10 (both 768).

148. Stephen Owen, “The Self’s Perfect Mirror: Poetry as Autobiography,” in The Vitality of the Lyric Voice: Shih Poetry from the Late Han to the T’ang, ed. Shuen-fu Liu and Stephen Owen (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986), 92.

149. See note 137 above.

150. Quanji, 2.3.794–96; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 262–65, Poem 2.30 (756–757).

151. Quanji, 2.3.813–19; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 276–79, Poem 4.38 (757).

152. Quanji, 3.6.1629–42; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 2, 200–6, Poem 8.20.

153. Quanji, 7.14.4110–19; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 4, 298–303, Poem 16.16 (766).

154. Quanji, 10.20.5849–51; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 6, 224–25, Poem 23.46 (769).

155. Poem II, 4862n66; Han shu, 91.3690.

156. Poem II, 4863n67, citing Xijing zaji 西京雜記.

157. Poem II, 4863n 68; Hou Han shu, 54.1759–60, biography of Yang Zhen楊震, interpreted as portending a bright future.

158. Poem III, 6100n21. See Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 6, 233; cf. Hou Han shu, 54.1760, biography of Yang Zhen.

159. Poem II, 4861n60. Du Fu was referring to a yuefu poem by Cai Yong entitled “Yin Ma Changcheng ku” 飲馬長城窟; Wen xuan, 27.597.

160. Zhao Hailing, Du Fu yu Rujia wenhua, 204–5, items 53–64. See Quanji, 7.13.363, pp. 3635–36n5 (766); Quanji, 9.18.5335–39; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 5, 348–53, Poem 21.4 (767).

161. Poem II, n. 61 on Quanji, 8.16.4861; Han shu, 72.3056–57: “Bu xianmu jun ping zhang” 卜羨慕君平杖.

162. Han shu, 88.3595, and Yan Shigu’s 3596n24. Cf. Poem II, 4844n17.

163. Wen yuan ying hua, 701.5b, but preferring reading of Tang wen cui, bi 比 for hua 化.

164. Jiu Tang shu, 190B.5029–31.

165. Piling ji 毘陵集 (Sibu congkan ed.), 13.1b–6a; see also Piling ji 20.9a–9b, and Wen yuan yinghua 983.4a–b, comments of Liang Su.

166. Mei and Kao, “Autumn Meditations,” 44–80.

167. For Zhang Jiuling’s comment, see Wenyuan ying hua 709.13b; Quanji, 11.21.6165–93; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 6, 262–63. Yuan Jie, writing a letter to the senior official Wei Zhi 韋陟 in 759, cited “collecting common children’s ditties” as an indication of how a man living in the countryside was closer to popular opinion. See Yuan Cishan ji 6.92, dated to 759.

168. Quanji, 5.9.2613–15; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 3, 130–31, Poem 11.26 (762).

169. Martin Kern, “Du Fu’s Long Gaze Back: Fate, History, Authorship,” in Reading the Signs: Philology, History, Prognostication, Festschrift for Michael Lackner, ed. Iwo Amelung and Joachim Kurtz (Munich: Iudicium, 2018), 166 and n. 28, comment on the “Great Preface” to the Odes (Mao shi daxu 毛詩大序).

170. Gao Shi ji jiaozhu 高適集校注 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 1984), 177–80 (“Suiyang choubie Chang da panguan” 睢陽酬別暢大判官). See also Ce fu yuan gui, 104.15a, for a statement by Zhangsun Quanxu 長孫全緒 General of the Jinwu 金吾 guards to Daizong in 762.

171. Translation of fanzhao here following Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 237–43, although the expression also has the Buddhist connotation of “introspection.” See Quanji, 7.14.3940–43; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 4, 202–5, Poem 15.57 (766, but possibly the following year) (cf. n. 26 above). This interpretation differs from that in Xiao Difei’s commentary and from the translations of both Stephen Owen and Martin Kern. See Kern, “Du Fu’s Long Gaze,” 154–57. See Quanji, 4.7.1785, n. 4. See Hanyu da cidian 漢語大辭典 (Shanghai: Hanyu dacidian, 1990), vol. 6, 517–18, which likewise quotes both this line and Chou Zhao’ao citing Zhu Xi’s comment on another Du Fu line, “The ancients’ rite of summoning the soul is not applied only to the deceased.” For later instances in Tang verse in which this expression suggests contacting old friends still living rather than the deceased, see, e.g., Quan Tang shi 540.6205, citing Li Shangyin 李商隱, “Chou Yang Shilang pingjian ji” 酬楊侍郎憑見寄; also Quan Tang shi 624.7178, citing Lu Guimeng’s 陸龜蒙 “Xu fang ping hou wen she yin ji Ximei” 徐方平後聞赦因寄襲美.

172. Tangren xuan, “Guo Xiu ji xu” 國秀集序, 280.

173. Quanji, 5.9.2501–2515; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 3, 112–15, Poems 11.10–11.15 (761).

174. Quanji, 9.17.4946–47; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 4, 370–71, Poem 17.44 (767).

175. Quanji, 1.2.494–99; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 160–61, Poem 3.27 (754).

176. Quanji, 8.15.4397; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 5, 68–69, Poem 18.47 (767, from Kuizhou).

177. Hung, Tu Fu, 149; Quanji, 3.6.1681; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 2, 220–25, Poem 8.23, reading, “When his brush fell to, he startled the wind and rain / When a poem was complete, the ghosts and spirits wept” (筆落驚風雨 / 詩成泣鬼神).

178. Quan Tang wen 341.10a–13a: “Zhengyi dafu xing Guozisiye Shangzhuguo Jinxiang kaiguonan Yan fujun shendaobei” 正議大夫行國子司業上柱國金鄉開國男顏府君神道碑; see Quanji, 1.2.311–17; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 1, 74–77, Poem 2.12 (752).

179. Zhongxing xianqi ji 中興閒氣集, in Tangren xuan, B.524.

180. Quanji, 8.15.4489–96; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 5, 94–99, Poem 18.70 (767).

181. Heyu yingling ji 河岳英靈集, in Tangren xuan, B.225.

182. Yuan Cishan ji, 9.143–44 (766).

183. The indications are, however, that the reunion that did take place was an anticlimax. Du Fu’s few poems dedicated to these men at Jingzhou were conventional.

184. Han shu, 21A.959.

185. For his late homage to Song Zhiwen in Quanji, 10.19.5732–42; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 6, 94–99, Poem 22.62 (769), plus the comment by Yang Xihe 楊西河 in Quanji, 10.19.5741.

186. For Ma Rong’s fu see Wen xuan, 18.234–39. For Wang Can’s verse, see n. 106 above.

187. James Legge trans., The Chinese Classics, Vol. V Part II, The Ch’un Ts’ew, with the Tso Chuen (London: Trubner & Co., 1872), 561–66 (Lord Xiang, Year 31).

188. Quanji, 5.9.2511–12; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 4, 114–15, Poem 11.15 (761 at Chengdu).

189. Quanji, 7.13.3845–48; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 4, 362–63, Poem 17.35 (767).

190. Quanji, 7.13.3612–19; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 4, 176–81, Poem 15.44 (766).

191. Yangzi Fayan 揚子法言 (Siku quanshu ed.), 2.2b.

192. Quanji, 7.14.4083–110, at p. 4085; Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu, vol. 4, 302–13, Poem 16.18 (766 at Kuizhou), quoted by Gregory M. Patterson, “Elegies for Empire: The Poetics of Memory in the Late Work of Du Fu (712–770)” Ph.D. dissertation (Columbia University, 2013), 233. See Analects 7.8, for the phrase lidai xingwang zhi you 歷代興亡之由.

193. Some of the titles in Wen yuan ying hua 文苑英華 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1966), chaps. 750–55, suggest the range of this analysis. For Yuan Jie, see Yuan Cishan ji 元次山集 (Beijing:Zhonghua, 1960), 8.119–20; for Li Hua, see Wen yuan ying hua, 363.1a–3a; 742.3a–5a.

194. Susan Cherniack, “Three Great Poems by Du Fu: ‘Five Hundred Words: A Song of My Thoughts on Traveling from the Capital to Fengxian,’ ‘Journey North,’ and ‘One Hundred Rhymes: A Song of My Thoughts on an Autumn Day in Kuifu, Respectfully Sent to Director Zheng and Adviser to the Heir Apparent Li,’” Ph.D. dissertation (Yale University, 1988), 30.