The Five Dynasties (907-960)

The first three quarters of the 10th century were a period of division and relentless struggle for power which saw mall, short-lived dynasties following one after the other; it is generally referred to as the period of the "five dynasties and ten kingdoms". The political map of China was being fought over by a number of emperors, most of them from obscure backgrounds. Li Yu's dynasty had held power for almost forty years and had revived the name of "Tang", dynasty "of the south". This was two or three times more than any of the Five Dynasties which had followed in quick succession in Kaifeng (the present-day capital of Henan province) in central China. Chang'an and Luoyang, the former capitals further west, were then laid waste. Events, some dating back as far as the 8th century, offer insights to help understand the political situation in China when Li Yu came to the throne: a major rebellion had permanently weakened central power which had then passed into the hands of the military governors of neighboring provinces and Barbarian allies. In Kaifeng, in 960, a general from the Han ethnic group founded the Song dynasty which wrested power from all the other dynasties in less than twenty years.

Li Yu (937-978)

Li Yu (or Li Houzhu) was the third and last emperor of the Southern Tang dynasty. He came to the throne in 961 and ruled over one of the richest regions of China; the capital was Jingling ("capital of the South", now Nanking). Surrounded by erudite civil servants and beautiful courtesans, he led a carefree life of luxury and indulgence, mostly devoted to art and poetry. Li Yu lived in a constant state of fear, under threat from more powerful states ruled by the Song dynasty (960-1279) and to ingratiate himself would send them gifts every year. In 975 Nanking surrendered and the kingdom was annexed. Li Yu was exiled to the new capital of Kaifeng, where he was known by the degrading title of "disobedient marquis"; it did, nonetheless, provide him with a comfortable pension while he lived there under house arrest. His sorry state of exile eventually exasperated Zhao Guoyi, the second Song emperor who, so it is said, had him poisoned in 978, during one of the celebrated Court banquets. Li Yu was an emperor who indulged in refined forms of pleasure; he was also an outstanding artist, calligrapher, musician and poet, indeed one of the most highly reputed in the art of tsu singing. All that has survived to the present day is forty-five of his poems, still held in great esteem, and which were set to music, using popular tunes, in the 1930s. His last poem, sung to the tune of Farewell My Concubine is still famous and provides the epilogue for Guo Wenjing's opera.

Spring flowers, autumn moon: when is their end?
The past: how much is known?
Last night: east winds again through the tower room.
My country, bathed in moonlight, cannot bear the backwards glance.
Carved railings, jade inlays, all should still be there;
Only faces have changed, grown pale.
You ask, how much sorrow have you known?
Just like spring rivers eastward flow.

Han Xizai (911-970)

Han Xizai was twenty-six when Li Yu was born. His father, deputy governor of Shandong province, threatened by the ruling despot, had fled south in 926. Han Xizai was a poet, artist and one of the most respected statesmen of the late Tang dynasty. He embarked on a brilliant career during the reign of Li Yu's father who had come to the throne in 947. Li Yu later wished to appoint him Prime Minister, but Han Xizai, abandoning his ambition to save his country, held lavish feasts every night. The Emperor thought his behavior suspicious and dispatched two Court artists to spy on him. On their return, they presented their report: this was the scroll known as Night Revels of Han Xizai, painted by Gu Hongzhong. With the decline of the Southern Tang dynasty, there were neither the military nor the financial resources needed to withstand the advancing Song forces.

Gu Hongzhong (10th Century)

Court painting flourished in lands ruled by the Southern Tang dynasty, a region which, for geographical and political reasons had enjoyed comparative peace. A number of emperors had fostered the arts, founding art academies which later provided models for the famous Song Academy. Gu Hongzhong was a Court artist and while he was clearly gifted, little information can be found on the man himself. Li Yu is said to have sent him, together with his colleague Zhou Wenju, to spy on Han Xizai. The mission itself, while far from prestigious, produced one of the most fascinating paintings in China's history and without which there would be no information whatsoever on Han Xizai as nothing remains of his written texts. Michael Sullivan, in his book on Chinese art, devotes a page to this painting, suggesting the hypothesis that it may be a faithful copy made in the 12th century: Li Yu had sent one of his artists (from his daizhao) to observe and report on what was happening and was able to present proof of Han Xizai's debauchery. Thus moral justification is given for creating the work which Tang Heou, a 14th century writer, deemed impure and unworthy of a collection of quality. The justification is not mentioned in the History of Chinese painting by Yu Jianhua, the authority on the subject (published in Shanghai in 1936); Gu Hongzhong is cited solely with reference to this one painting in renwu or portrait style, disdained by scholarly artists who had nothing but contempt for all daizhao works. Perhaps it could be assumed that the duty of recording the grandest feasts and receptions for posterity fell to them.

The pipa

The pipa is a four-stringed, pear-shaped lute with frets, originally from Persia and introduced to China after crossing Central Asia, where it was given different shapes and names, around the second century B.C.. It is the main instrument used for accompanying nanyin ballads, is a symbol of one of the four guardians of the sky and is a companion to princesses in exile. The pipa features as the focal point of many stories, plays and poems and even has its own opera - The Lute [Pipaji] - composed by Gao Ming in the 14th century. Dismissed by scholars loath to adopt a foreign instrument, it provided clandestine entertainment for a privileged few in private apartments. By the time of the Tang dynasty, the pipa had become a solo instrument. Originally played with a large plectrum, the technique was changed and made freer, using fingernails and increasing the number of frets which encouraged the emergence of many distinguished musicians. Scores dating from 933 are recognized as some of the earliest forms of musical notation. The pipa is not found in any iconography until the 3rd century, under the Wei, or perhaps the Jin, dynasty. It can be seen on Buddhist cave paintings in Dunhuang and, in the 10th century, appeared on the painted scroll Night Revels of Han Xizai. In Ye Yan, the part for solo pipa, played by Wu Man, is an integral part of the stage action.

Tao

Ye Yan has two references to Yijing (I Ching, The Book of Changes), the famous text on divination from ancient China. In Scene I, Hongzhu calls on the oracles, casting lots using a pair of slippers; in the second interlude the Emperor is terrified at the sight of the figure of fire, Li, and quotes the comment on the fourth line of the hexagram. I Ching offers a small-scale view of the entire universe. The system has eight basic trigrams (pa kua) which are also symbols in a system of cosmology (e.g. Earth, Sky, Water and Fire). Each trigram is comprised of three lines, solid or broken, placed one above the other. By combining two trigrams, sixty-four different hexagrams are produced, each one having different textual explanations and cryptic comments. The lines forming each figure, both trigram and hexagram, are either Yin or Yang, this being determined by casting lots - tossing tortoise shells, yarrow stalks, coins, other objects or, in this particular case, slippers. The shift from one hexagram to another shows how a situation will develop. This is what is understood by "change". "One time Yin, one time Yang, this is the Tao." This could also be interpreted to mean "One side Yin, one side Yang, this is the Tao." The alternating of Yin and Yang is the movement back and forth between rest in the invisible and vitality in motion. Without going into the finer details of erudite anthropology and philosophy, Yin is the principle of otherness, difference, discontinuity and contraction; Yang is the principle of oneness, identity, continuity and expansion. Yang begins, Yin completes the fullness.

Huabiao

These columns, usually stone, are part of the structure and ornamentation of grand buildings, such as palaces, tombs, city walls and bridges. Most are decorated with a dragon, symbolizing the emperor, and feature a cloud on the top horizontal section. The style is at least two thousand years old.

Tortoise/Turtle

The tortoise has been a magical animal ever since ancient times, firstly because of its shape - square when viewed from below and round when viewed from above. The square shape symbolizes the earth, while the round shape symbolizes the vault of the sky. As an animal, the tortoise is half-way between the human realm and the celestial realm, which explains why it was used for divination as early as the Shang dynasty (15th-11th century). It also exemplified longevity, providing a model, with the famous tortoise breathing technique used in qigong type exercises for a long, healthy life, and was a widely recognized symbol of immortality, seen in stone or bronze sculptures in imperial palaces or supporting steles with etched funeral inscriptions on imperial tombs.