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Story 64: Yang Yuhuan Folktales

Yang Yuhuan Folktales

Author: Anonymous

Yang Yuhuan (719-756), named Taizhen, was born in Yongle, Puzhou (now Yongji, Shanxi Province), and the daughter of Yang Xuanyan, Sihu of Shuzhou. The noble concubine of Li Longji, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty.

Yang’s appearance is gorgeous, good at singing and dancing, and good at music. In 734 (the 22nd year of Kaiyuan of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty), she was adopted as the princess of Li Hao, the eighteenth son of Emperor Xuanzong. At that time, Yang was 16 years old and Li Hao was also about 16 years old. In 737, Xuanzong’s favorite concubine Wu Hui died. There were thousands of concubines in the harem, but none of them could satisfy Xuanzong.

In order to please Xuanzong, Gao Lishi recommended Yang Yuhuan, Princess Shou, to Xuanzong. In 740, Emperor Xuanzong visited the Hot Spring Palace and sent Gao Lishi to the Shou Palace to summon the Yang family and ordered her to become a monk, named Taizhen, and live in Taizhen Palace. In 745, the daughter of Wei Zhaoxun, the general of Zuowei Zhonglang, was appointed as Princess Shou, and Xuanzong named Yang as a noble concubine. “Father seizes his son’s wife”, which became strange news in the Tang Dynasty palace.

Xuanzong personally composed “The Song of Colorful Clothes and Feathers”. When he summoned Concubine Yang, he ordered the musicians to play this new music. He gave Yang a gold hairpin and inserted it into her hair. Xuanzong said to the people in the harem: “When I get Concubine Yang, it is like getting the most precious treasure” (Volume 3 of “Secrets of the Ancient and Modern Palaces”). Copying the new song “Getting the Treasure Son” shows the great favor.

At that time, there was no new queen in the palace, and everyone in the palace called Yang “Lady”, who actually occupied the last position. Zheng Chujie told a story that after Yang Yuhuan was promoted to a noble concubine, a white parrot was presented as a tribute to Lingnan. It could imitate human speech. Xuanzong and Yang Guifei liked it very much and called it “Snowflake Girl”. It is “Snowflake Girl”.

Xuanzong ordered his ministers to teach him the poem. After several times, the white parrot could recite it, which was very cute. Whenever Xuanzong played chess with Concubine Yang, if the situation went against Xuanzong, the eunuchs who served him would call out “Snow Flower Lady” for fear that Xuanzong would lose the game, and the parrot would fly into the chessboard, spread its wings and flap its wings, “to disrupt its ranks.” or peck the hands of the imperial concubines and the kings to prevent them from fighting.” (“Minghuang Zalu”) Later, this lovely “Snowflower Girl” was pecked to death by an eagle.

Xuanzong and Concubine Yang were very sad and buried it in the imperial garden. , called “Parrot Tomb”. Yang Weizhen, a poet of the Yuan Dynasty, said in his “Untitled Shishang Hidden Style Poems”: “Jin Qi has recently collected the Qinghai steeds, and the brocade cage has released the snow-clothed lady at the beginning.” (“Tie Ya Collection”) is a poem about Xuanzong and Yang Guifei’s pet white parrot. Xuanzong cherished his pet white parrot so much, and it goes without saying that he favored Concubine Yang.

Concubine Yang had three sisters, all of whom were of national beauty. They were also summoned to the palace and were given the title of Lady of Korea, Lady of Guo State, and Lady of Qin State. Each of them was given cosmetics and paid 100,000 yuan every month. Mrs. Guo Guo ranked third.

She was beautiful with her natural beauty, without fake makeup. Du Fu’s poem “The Lady of the State of Guo” says: “The Lady of the State of Guo accepted the Lord’s thoughts and mounted her horse to enter the Golden Gate at dawn. However, she disliked the color of the makeup and powder, so she lightly swept her eyebrows towards the Supreme Being.” (Volume 2 of “Detailed Notes on Du Poems”) is a portrayal of the fact.

Because Concubine Yang was highly favored, her brothers were all given to high officials, and even her distant brother Yang Zhao was originally a scoundrel in the market. Because of his good scheming, Xuanzong gambled with the Yang sisters, so he ordered Yang Zhao to calculate the gambling scores and named him Guozhong. He holds more than ten positions as branch doctor and controls government affairs.

Xuanzong visited Huaqing Pool and took five families of the Yang family as his retinue. Each family formed a team and wore the same color. The five families formed a colorful team. Jewelry dropped everywhere along the way, sparkling and extravagant. The Yang family married two princesses and two princesses. Xuanzong personally wrote and wrote the family temple monument for the Yang family.

Once, Concubine Yang offended Xuanzong because of her pampering and indulgence and was condemned by Xuanzong to return to her natal family. However, after the imperial concubine left the palace, Xuanzong could not eat well, so Gao Litu had to call her back. In 750, the imperial concubine stole the purple jade flute of the twenty-fifth man Fen Quan and played it alone for her own entertainment. When the incident happened, he was sent out of the palace again for disobeying the decree.

After the imperial concubine left the palace, she cut a lock of green silk and asked Zhang Taoguang to bring it to Xuanzong. Xuanzong was horrified and ordered Gao Lishi to recall her. Zhang Hu’s poem “Fengwang Xiaoguan” says: “Jinyu was fortunate enough to be unseen, so he secretly blew Fenwang Xiaoguan.” (Volume 5 of “Mid and Late Tang Poems Knocking Collection”) is about this incident. Concubine Yang knew that Xuanzong was without her, so she became restless and even more arrogant.

The Yang family “did not ask when entering or leaving the forbidden gate, and the senior officials in the capital looked at her with suspicion.” At that time, people had a saying: “Don’t be sad when you have a girl, don’t be happy when you have a boy.” (“Yang Taizhen’s Biography”) Li Zhao said: “Yang Guifei was born in Shu and likes lychees.

Born in the South China Sea, she is especially better than those in Shu, so she gallops forward every year.” (Supplement to the History of the Tang Dynasty, Volume 1) Du Mu ” The poem “Passing through Huaqing Palace” says:

Looking back at Xiuchengdui in Chang’an, thousands of gates are opened one after another on the top of the mountain. Riding on the red dust concubine pass, no one knew it was lychee coming (Volume 6 of “Collection of Poems of the Middle and Late Tang Dynasty”)

It is about chanting tribute lychees from Lingnan. In later generations, lychees from Lingnan were known as “concubine’s smile”, and it is said that they got their name from this.

When Tianbao was middle-aged, Fan Yang Jiedushi made An Lushan an outstanding figure and won Xuanzong’s favor, so the Yang sisters and Lushan became brothers and sisters, and Concubine Yang recognized Lushan as her godson. In the name of going to the palace to see his godmother, Lushan blatantly flirted with Concubine Yang.

Concubine Yang celebrated her last birthday in Chang’an on June 1, 755, at the Huaqing Palace. Xuanzong ordered the Liyuan to set up music and played a new song in the Changsheng Palace. The song did not have a title. It was suitable for the arrival of lychees from the South China Sea in Guangdong, so “Lychee Fragrance” was used as the song. Song title.

In November of the same year, Anlu Mountain rebelled, and Xuanzong entered Sichuan in a hurry. The following year, when passing through Maweiyi (today’s west of Xingping County, Shaanxi Province), the army mutinied, forcing Xuanzong to kill Yang Guozhong, and gave Yang Guifei to commit suicide at the age of 38. Bai Juyi’s “Song of Everlasting Sorrow” tells the tragic story of Xuanzong and his imperial concubine.

Yang Guifei was good at poetry. The Complete Poems of the Tang Dynasty includes a poem by her titled “Dance to Zhang Yunrong” which reads:

The fragrant fragrance lingers on the sleeves, and the red owl is in the autumn smoke.
The wind is blowing on Qingyun Mountain, and the water is blowing by the tender willow pond.

This is a dance written by a woman. It is compared to the looming beauty of a woman in the autumn mist. It is compared to the wind and clouds on the mountain, which are erratic. It is even more compared to the willow silk blowing in the water, graceful and gentle, lined with sleeves and fragrant. It can be said to be superb. There are many stories about Concubine Yang reflected in poems. Du Mu’s “Quetra on Passing the Huaqing Palace” says:

The green trees in Xinfeng are covered with yellow mosaics, and several emissaries riding on the fishing sun are returning.
A song of neon clothes floats on thousands of peaks, and the original dance breaks down.
(Volume 6 of “Collection of Poems of the Middle and Late Tang Dynasty”)

It’s just Concubine Yong letting things go. As for Li Bai’s three “Qing Ping Diao Ci”, the famous line: “The clouds think of clothes, flowers think of face, the spring breeze blows on the threshold and reveals the Chinese travel” (Volume 5 of “The Complete Works of Li Taibai”) has become an eternal masterpiece. After the death of the imperial concubine, Xuanzong came to Shu, “walked to Fufeng Road,… and then to the entrance of the Xiegu. It was the tenth day of Linyu.

He heard the ringing of bells in the rain on the plank road, and heard them from across the mountain. In order to commemorate the imperial concubine, his voice was collected into “Yulin Ring Song” “.” (“Yang Taizhen’s Biography”) This is the origin of the later Song poem “Yulin Ling”.

There are more stories about Yang Guifei in dramas. In the Yuan Dynasty, Bai Pu wrote the drama “Tang Minghuang Autumn Night with Wutong Rain”. In the Ming Dynasty, there were Tu Longlong’s “Cai Hao Ji” legend, Wu Shimei’s “Jing Hong Ji” legend, and Anonymous’ “Mo Chen Jian”. “Legendary, there is the legend of Hong Sheng’s “Palace of Eternal Life” in the Qing Dynasty, Peking Opera has “Hundred Flowers Pavilion”, “The Drunken Concubine”, “Taizhen Gaiden”, “Mawei Slope”, etc., and other local operas also have many stories about Yang Guifei.

It’s really The list goes on. In particular, the Peking Opera “The Drunken Concubine” starring Mei Lanfang is well-known at home and abroad for its originality and excellent acting and singing skills. His novels include “Yang Taizhen’s Biography”, Chen Hong’s “The Song of Everlasting Sorrow”, “The Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties”, etc.

There is the tomb of Yang Guifei in Xingping County, Shaanxi today, covering an area of 3,000 square meters. On the side of the tomb are steles of poems by Li Shangyin, Bai Juyi, Lin Zexu and other dynasties. There is Huaqing Pool at the northern foot of Lishan Mountain in Lintong. It is said that Concubine Yang bathed in the Huaqing Pool in the cold spring, and the hot spring water washed away the fat. Among them, the “Guifei Pool” is more famous.

It is said that it was a bathing pool dedicated to Concubine Yang, so it is also called “Huaqing Pool”. There is a “cooling hair pavilion” on the side of the pool, which is said to be the place where the imperial concubines cooled their hair after bathing and combed their hair. Because of their close relationship with the famous ancient beauty Yang Guifei, these scenic spots and historic sites have attracted many Chinese and foreign tourists and have become famous tourist attractions.