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Story 67: Yang Yuhuan and the Song of Everlasting Sorrow

Yang Yuhuan and the Song of Everlasting Sorrow

Author: Anonymous

In the seventh year of Kaiyuan of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty (719 AD), Yang Yuhuan, a peerless beauty of the Tang Dynasty, was born in Xishu. Twenty-one years later, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty met Yang Yuhuan for the first time at the Lishan Hot Spring Palace and was impressed by her beauty, beauty, and leisurely manner. He immediately became a female Taoist priest and lived in Taizhen Palace.

In the fourth year of Tianbao (AD 745), Yuhuan was conferred as a noble concubine. From then on, a tragic love story between an emperor and his concubine took place in Chinese history. It is actually an episode in the process of the Tang Dynasty from prosperity to decline. It is so sad and touching, but also contains profound historical lessons.

No matter what people throughout the ages say, they all agree that Yang Guifei is a model of female beauty in Chinese history, just as the rich and gorgeous peonies embody the aesthetic concepts of the Tang people.

Concubine Yang’s ancestral home is Hongnong Huayin (Huayin, Shaanxi), and later moved to Puzhou (Yongji, Shanxi). His ancestors were all high-ranking officials, and his great-grandfather Ling Ben also served as the governor of Jinzhou. After that, the family declined. His father Xuan Yan was appointed as the chief minister of Shu Prefecture and joined the army. Shuzhou is located in Western Shu and has jurisdiction over the four counties of Jinyuan, Qingcheng, Xinjin, and Tangxing.

The prefecture governs Jinyuan County, which is now Chongzhou City in Sichuan Province. Si Hu joined the army, an assistant official in charge of households in the state, and was a junior official. Yang Xuanyan served in Shuzhou around the early years of Kaiyuan.

There are records in historical documents that the imperial concubine’s “father Xuanyan, was the Sihu of Shuzhou”, but only “Yang Taizhen’s Biography” written by a beginner in the history of music in the Song Dynasty mentioned the birthplace of the imperial concubine in detail: “Father Xuanyan was the Sihu of Shuzhou.”

Born in Shu, he fell into a pond by mistake, and later generations called it Luofei Pond. The pond was in front of Daojiang County.” [Tang Dynasty] Daojiang County is now Juyuan Town, Dujiangyan City, adjacent to Shuzhou. The ruins of Luofei Pond in front of Daojiang County still exist in Daojiang Village, Juyuan Town, Dujiangyan City today. The pool is round and small, covering an area of more than 1 mu.

Surrounded by fertile farmland and golden rice; there is a roll of trees called “watermelon” by the locals beside the pool. The grass is like smoke, green and green, and the scenery is beautiful. The imperial concubine liked to play by the pool when she was a child and accidentally fell into this pool, so this small pool became famous. Yang Shen, a later literati, wrote a poem:

The concubine’s room is filled with lotus and jade, and her gentleness is close to Baiyun Township.
The light covers three thousand hectares of the color world and moistens the first soup in Huaqing.

Wang Peixun also wrote a poem:

When you enter the water, the pearly color fills the pool. First, teach the jade liquid to wash away the condensed fat.
Begonia is not broken, the east wind is soft, but when Huaqing comes out of the bath?

Poets all thought that this little girl would later bathe in the hot springs of Huaqing Palace, and there seemed to be signs of her first blessing. There is a Yang family courtyard near Luofei Pond. According to legend, it was where Yuhuan lived at that time, and it was called “Yang Fei’s House”.

It can be speculated that Yang Fei’s house was the residence where Yang Xuanyan was working in Shuzhou, and Yuhuan was born here. Thousands of miles of fertile land, the plains of western Sichuan are rich in products and beautiful scenery, and the beauty is beautiful. It took an unknown amount of time to create a peerless beauty. There may be a mysterious cultural reason for this.

Yang Xuanyan died in Shuzhou when his daughter was only a few years old, so she was known as “the imperial concubine was orphaned early” in history. His uncle, Cao Yang Xuanjio, a scholar in Henan Prefecture (Luoyang, Henan), adopted Yuhuan. She received a good education in this new environment, and she was already well-established at the age of seventeen. In the 22nd year of Kaiyuan (734 AD), she was selected as the concubine of Emperor Xuanzong’s son, Prince Shou.

The arrangement of fate was particularly clever. In the end, Yuhuan became Xuanzong’s concubine because she was “naturally beautiful and could not give up on herself. She once chose the king’s side.” She gained the true love of the emperor who founded the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty changed from political enlightenment to mediocrity and debauchery, the Tang Dynasty turned from its prosperity to decline, the Anshi Rebellion spread, and the royal family fled to Shu.

If all these major social responsibilities were borne by Yang Guifei, it would be too exaggerated and very unfair. Fair enough. Yang Guifei does not have the qualities of a talented and ambitious politician like Wu Zetian. She only pursues love and vanity like ordinary women and strives to enjoy the happiness of life. In June of the fifteenth year of Tianbao (AD 756), the royal family and their entourage took refuge in Shu. When passing through Mawei Station, the Sixth Army did not send out troops.

Although the eunuch Gao Lishi said that “the imperial concubine is innocent,” the situation forced Xuanzong to order Gao Lishi to The imperial concubine was hanged in the Buddhist hall. It’s a pity that she was only thirty-eight years old, and her beauty has faded away. After Xuanzong entered Shu, he couldn’t help but miss the imperial concubine painfully. Later, the scholar Yang Shen wondered whether Xuanzong knew that there were still ruins of Luofei Pond in Sichuan when he saw the moon in his palace.

He said: “I don’t know that on the night when he saw the moon in his palace, Meng Fanghun was by the water?” It is possible that Xuanzong did not know that there was a Luofei Pond in Sichuan. If he knew about Luo Fei Pond, maybe he would go to mourn her, rather than go to heaven and earth to find her soul.

After Yang Guifei left Shuzhong when she was young, she never returned to the place of her birth. Is she really a “trouble”, a “beautiful thing” or a “temptress”? A hundred years later, when the war broke out at the end of the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Xizong of the Tang Dynasty led the royal family to Shu for refuge like Xuanzong. When he returned to Maweipo, he felt inspired and wrote a poem:

The willows and willows are green in Mawei, and Luan Yu is lucky enough to return to Shu.
Ah Huan at the foot of the spring should have said: This time I will not offend Concubine Yang.

Xizong had already expressed the injustice and hatred of the wronged soul on behalf of Concubine Yang.

Song of Everlasting Sorrow [Tang Dynasty] by Bai Juyi

The emperor of the Han Dynasty was obsessed with beauty and wanted to overwhelm the country. He couldn’t get it from Yu Yu for many years. There is a daughter in the Yang family who has just grown up. She is raised in a boudoir and no one knows her.

It’s hard to give up on your natural beauty, so you will choose to be by the side of the king. Looking back and smiling, the sixth palace has no color.

In the cold spring, you can bathe in Huaqing Pool, and the hot spring water will wash away your fat.
The waiter helped her weakly, and it was the beginning of her new grace.
The flowers on the temples are swaying with golden steps, and the hibiscus tent warms the spring night.

The spring night is short and the sun is high, and from now on the king will not go to court early.
There is no leisure for Cheng Huan to serve banquets, and all the nights are dedicated to spring outings.
There are three thousand beauties in the harem, and three thousand people love her.

The golden house is made up to serve as a charming lady at night, and the jade tower is full of drunkenness and spring.
Sisters and brothers are all nobles, and they are born in a poor and glorious family.
Therefore, the hearts of parents all over the world are determined not to be reborn as a boy but to be reborn as a girl.

The blue clouds are rising from the heights of Li Palace, and the wind of fairy music can be heard everywhere.
Slow singing, slow dancing, silk and bamboo, the king can’t see enough of it all day long.
Yuyang’s flying dragon stirs the earth, shocking the colorful clothes and feathers.

Smoke and dust arose from the Jiuzhong City Tower, and thousands of horses traveled southwest.
The green flowers swayed and stopped, more than a hundred miles west of the capital.
The Sixth Army had nothing to do but turned around and died in front of the horse.

There is no one to collect the flowers and leaves on the ground, and the jade-winged golden bird is scratching its head.
The king hid his face and could not save him. He looked back and saw the blood and tears flowing.
The yellow leaves are scattered in the wind, and the clouds linger in the sword pavilion.

There are few people walking at the foot of Mount Emei, and the flags are dim and the sun is thin.
The water of the Shu River is green, the mountains of Shu are green, and the Holy Lord loves each other day and night.
Seeing the moon in the palace looks sad, and hearing the heartbreaking sound of bells in the rainy night.

The sky spins and the earth turns back to Long Yu, who is still hesitant and unable to go.
In the mud at the foot of Mawei slope, there is no place where Yuyan Kong died.
The monarch and his ministers looked after each other with all their clothes on, and looked eastward at the capital gate to return on horseback.

When I return, the ponds and gardens are all still the same, with lots of liquid and lotus but little willow.
Hibiscus is like a face and willows are like eyebrows, how can I not shed tears about this?
The peach and plum blossoms bloom in the spring breeze, and the sycamore leaves fall in the autumn rain.

There are many autumn grasses in the south of the West Palace, and the fallen leaves are full of red leaves that are not swept away.
The disciples in Liyuan have new white hair, and the prisoner Qing’e in Jiaofang is old.
The fireflies in the evening palace are quietly thinking, and the solitary lamp has been used up before they can fall asleep.

The night is long and the bells and drums are beginning, and the stars are about to dawn.
The mandarin duck tiles are frosty and the flowers are heavy, and the emerald quilt is cold.
After so many years of separation between life and death, my soul never came to sleep.

Linqiong Taoist priests from Hongdu can reach the soul with their sincerity.
In order to appreciate the king’s thoughts, he taught the alchemists to search diligently.
Empty and control the energy, it rushes like electricity, ascending to heaven and earth to seek everywhere.

The blue sky above and the yellow spring below fall, and both places are nowhere to be seen.
Suddenly I heard that there was a fairy mountain on the sea, and the mountain was ethereal.
The exquisite pavilion is filled with five clouds, among which there are many fairies.

One of them has a character called Tai Zhen, and his skin and appearance are all mixed.
Knock on the jade fan in the west chamber of the Golden Palace, and teach Xiaoyu a double success.
Hearing that the Emperor of Han Dynasty envoys, the dream soul in Jiuhua tent is frightened.

I pick up my clothes, push my pillow, and wander around, and the silver screen of beads and foils meanders open.
The bun in the clouds is half fresh, and the flower crown is not neat.
The wind blows and the fairy mantle is fluttering, just like the dancing of colorful clothes and feathers.

The jade face is lonely and full of tears, and a branch of pear blossom brings rain in spring.
I look at the king with affection, and my voice and appearance are blurry when I say goodbye.
Love is overwhelming in Zhaoyang Palace, and the sun and moon are long in Penglai Palace.

Looking back at the world, Chang’an is nowhere to be seen, but dust and mist.
Only the old things show deep affection, and the rhinestone alloy hairpin is sent to the future.
Leave one strand of the hairpin and combine it into a fan; break the hairpin into gold and combine it into two pieces.

But the teaching heart is as strong as gold, and we will meet in heaven and on earth.
I sent my farewell words again with great care, and in them, I vowed to know each other.
On July 7th, in the Hall of Eternal Life, no one was whispering in the middle of the night.

I wish to be a winged bird in the sky and a twig on the ground.
As time goes by, this hatred will last forever.

Brief Analysis

This poem tells the love story between Emperor Ming of the Tang Dynasty and Concubine Yang Guifei. Only the first sentence is “Han Dynasty” and Tang Dynasty. The other place names and people’s names are all real. The poem was written in the winter of the sixth year of Yuanhe (806) of Emperor Xianzong. The poet was serving as a county lieutenant in Wu (now Zhouzhi, Shaanxi Province). Once, he visited Xianyou Temple with Chen Hong and Wang Zhi.

On the king’s suggestion, he made an appointment with Chen Hong to visit the temple at that time. The popular love story about Xuanzong and his beloved concubine was written in the work, Chen wrote “The Song of Everlasting Sorrow”, and Bai wrote this poem. The poem begins as a comedy and turns into a tragedy. Although the author’s intention is to “punish the beautiful woman”, it becomes an ode to love.

The most successful part of this narrative poem is its lyricism. The rather complex plot is explained in just a few concise sentences, and it focuses on rendering the emotion, meticulously describing the intensity of love between Emperor Ming of the Tang Dynasty and Concubine Yang, and the longing of both parties after the death of the concubine.

Many of the famous lines are deeply touching and have been recited for thousands of years. The dramatic and mythological description and strong romanticism in the poem are also the reasons why it has a strong artistic charm.