From Singing Ghosts to Docile Concubines: Elite Domestication of the Local in the Wu Songs.

• Author: Hu, Qiulei

The beginning of the fourth century marks a crucial period in the political and cultural history of China. The Western Jin dynasty (265-317) fell under a combination of civil disturbances and invasions of northern ethnic groups. The Jin court and its high officials fled to the south of the Yangzi River and established a new regime in 317, with its capital in the city of Jiankang [phrase omitted] (modern day Nanjing). (1) In their newly adopted homeland, northern elite emigres discovered a world of southern local songs known as "sounds of Wu" (Wu sheng [phrase omitted]) or "Wu songs" (Wu ge [phrase omitted]) (hereafter Wu songs). These mostly short verses in five-syllable lines about the life and emotions of commoners often deliver a distinct "local flavor" marked by straightforward expression, lack of literary ornament, and colloquial elements. Originating in the area around Jiankang, they were collected by and performed at the southern courts, and passed down to later generations through their inclusion in official musical repertoires. Wu songs differ in many ways from Eastern Jin elite poetry, which, under the influence of Arcane Learning (xuanxue [phrase omitted]), valued philosophical reflection and sophisticated messages. Yet elite literati not only enjoyed the performance of Wu songs at parties and banquets, they even tried their hands at writing in this style. Scholars have explained this fascination of the emigre elite with changing political environments, indulgence in the descriptions of sensual beauty, and interest in the five-syllable poetic form. (2) Stephen Owen, who approached this issue from the perspective of cultural studies, suggested that the emigre elite's interest in local songs originated from their need for a cultural other in order to define their own cultural identity. (3) Owen's study has drawn attention to the significance of social and cultural factors in the study of southern local songs. This article will adopt this approach and argue that, through their interventions with local songs, Eastern Jin emigre elite went further than merely creating an inferior other. They also attempted to domesticate this other and make it the servant or even concubine of their own culture. A gender discourse--the ascription of femininity to the local--was a crucial element of this domestication. The article will also explore the unexpected outcome of this cultural encounter in the subsequent centuries, i.e., the merging of the northern elite with southern local music and cultural traditions.

LOCAL ORIGIN AND EMIGRE ELITE INPUT IN THE WU SONGS

The earliest account about the origin of the Wu songs comes from the "Treatise on Music" (Yue zhi [phrase omitted]) of the Song shu [phrase omitted] (completed in 488): "Wu songs and other tunes originated from east of the Yangzi River (4) and have somewhat increased and expanded since the Jin and [Liu-] Song dynasties" [phrase omitted], [phrase omitted], [phrase omitted], [phrase omitted]. (5) This statement is quoted almost verbatim in the "Treatise on Music" of the Jin shu [phrase omitted] (completed in 648). (6) Guo Maoqian's [phrase omitted] (fl. 1084) Yuefu shiji [phrase omitted] provides more details regarding the "increases and expansions" since the Eastern Jin:

The "Treatise on Music" of the Jin shu says, "Wu songs and other tunes originated from east of the Yangzi River and have somewhat increased and expanded since the Eastern Jin." At the beginning they were all merely lyrics [without accompanying music]. Later they were set to strings and flutes. From when they crossed the Yangzi River in the Yongjia reign (307-312) up to the Liang and Chen dynasties, all capitals were in Jianye [i.e., Jiankang], The Wu songs probably originated from this region. (7) According to this account, local songs had existed in the Jiangnan region before the migration of the Jin court to the south, but the latter historical event brought significant changes, expanding its size and altering its nature of performance. Yet it still does not address important issues, such as, what accounts for the growth of the local songs? What exactly is the relation between the origin of the Wu songs and the relocation of the Jin court to Jiankang?

Two factors probably contributed to the expansion of the Wu-song corpus. One is the active involvement of emigre elite literati in the collection and preservation of Wu songs, which accounts for their inclusion in the official repertoire listed in the "Treatises on Music." Another reason could be the incorporation of literati compositions in the style of Wu songs. The creation of several song titles is attributed to members of the emigre elite in the Song shu and other sources from the Southern dynasties including Gujin yuelu, Yueyuan [phrase omitted], and Yutaixinyong [phrase omitted]. (8) Scholars have used stylistic and linguistic evidence to demonstrate that several extant Wu songs, including most of the "Four Seasons of Ziye Songs" (Ziye sishi ge [phrase omitted]), were written or at least heavily edited by elite literati. (9) The addition of musical elements to what was initially "merely lyrics" was also likely in order to meet the needs of performances in the elite circle. (10)

In sum, although details in the accounts of the origin of the Wu songs could be interpreted differently, we can be sure about the emigre elite's active involvement in their collection, expansion, and transmission during the Eastern Jin and Liu-Song dynasties. In order to fully understand the elite's role in the transformation of the Wu songs, however, one needs to address the profound differences between the culture of the Eastern Jin elite, the majority of whom are northern emigres, and the local culture of the south in which the Wu songs are rooted. (11) This cultural encounter did not happen in a vacuum and has to be explored in its historical and cultural context.

CULTURAL CLASHES IN MUSIC AND SONGS

The cultural distinction between the north and south had existed since antiquity, yet gained certain political currency in the Jin dynasty. (12) In a study on regional identity in Western Jin literature, David Knechtges demonstrated the fundamentally different cultural identifications and the visible tension that arose when many upstart southerners came to Luoyang after the Western Jin conquest of Wu. (13) This cultural clash also left traces in the (more or less dramatized) memory of this period in anecdotal and historical sources. The fifth-century anecdote collection Shishuo xinyu [phrase omitted] includes the following conversation between Emperor Wu of the Western Jin (r. 265-290) and Sun Hao (r. 264-280), the last ruler of the Wu kingdom:

Emperor Wu of Jin asked Sun Hao, "I heard that southerners like to sing 'You-You Songs.' (14) Could you sing one for us?" Hao was in the midst of drinking, and so raised his goblet to offer a toast to the emperor, singing, "In the past I was your neighbor; / Now I am your subject. / Let me toast you with a cup of wine; / May you live for ten thousand years." The emperor regretted having asking him. (15) This account is from the chapter "Taunting and Teasing" (Paitiao [phrase omitted]), which collects witty or humorous anecdotes. Although a version appears in Zang Rongxu's [phrase omitted] (415-488) Jin shu [phrase omitted], (16) the historical validity of the event is difficult to verify. I do not intend to treat it as a historical fact, but its interpretation sheds lights on how cultural differences between the (northern) Western Jin and the (southern) Wu state were perceived in the following centuries. Sun Hao, the last ruler of Wu, was taken to Luoyang and kept captive in Emperor Wu's court after the Jin army had seized the Wu capital Jianye. This conversation is supposed to have taken place during his captivity. But how should we understand the emperor's request of Sun Hao to sing a local song at a court banquet? What, then, in Sun Hao's song made the emperor regret the decision? What in Sun's response was particularly "taunting or teasing" for the anecdote's fifth-century readers?

The conversation between Emperor Wu and Sun Hao can be understood as a conqueror's failed attempt to humiliate the cultural heritage of the conquered and to impose a sense of control and superiority on him. Music and songs, with their rich political and cultural associations, played a prominent role in this confrontation. Emperor Wu's request of a former king to perform a local song at a court banquet is an insult intended to render Sun Hao his entertainer and subordinator. But Sun ingeniously turned the situation to his own advantage and altered the hierarchy (hence the "taunting and teasing" effect in his response). He did sing the "You-You Song" in the voice of a commoner, but cleverly made the emperor his addressee, i.e., the ru [phrase omitted] (you) in the title, dragging the emperor into the world of local commoners with him. In general, it was socially improper to address the emperor with the intimate and even slightly condescending pronoun ru. And in particular, Sun Hao and the emperor, both familiar with the southern music tradition, (17) were clearly aware of the song's hidden message that the speaker is the social and cultural equal of the addressee. Contrary to his wish to be the master, the emperor was forced to play the role of a fellow commoner and lost this round of cultural collision.

The anecdote needs also to be read in its historical context. After ascending to the throne, Emperor Wu took extensive measures to restore and revive the "musical performances for imperial rituals" (yayue [phrase omitted]) that had suffered loss and disorganization since the political turmoil at the end of the Han dynasty. (18) Although the restoration of court music was standard practice at the change of dynastic rule and other times of great cultural change, Emperor Wu's attention to court music was probably motivated by...