Part IV Yue Fu Poems

The Creation of 《Yue Fu Poems》

          Western Han Dynasty inherited the court music of Qin Dynasty. It was a tradition in Qin and Han Dynasties to hold sacrificial ceremonies for the Heavenly Emperor and Deities in the suburb of the capital. There were 19 pieces of music used at such occasions, yet the verses were difficult to understand. Experts of all 《Five Classics》 had to be gathered for discussion and study in order to comprehend these verses. To do away with such a fuss and ensure an easy job for the ceremonies, Emperor Wu of Han decided to set up “乐府, Yue Fu, the Official Conservatory”, a different organization from the Court Music Agency. The task of “Yue Fu” was to provide service only to suburb sacrificial ceremonies by collecting folk songs in order to compose new music, creating new verses to replace old ones and training of musicians and performers. Emperor Wu appointed a eunuch, Li Yannian as the Director General of “Yue Fu”. The reason for this appointment was based on Li’s long experience in performing art. His younger sister, the most favored concubine of Emperor Wu, must have been an important factor. The most famous poetic prose writer Sima Xiangru was entrusted with the task of heading the department of writing new verses. Both created and collected verses by “Yue Fu” have been referred to as 《Yue Fu Poems》.
           Most poems in the existing 《Yue Fu Poems》 are those of the Eastern Han period (25-220 AD),  smaller parts are from the Western Han period (206BC-24AD), the Southern Dynasties (420-589)and Northern Dynasties (386-581). The earliest one among them was written in 111BC.
《Yue Fu Poems》 of Han Dynasty is composed of :

        1,《Songs of Suburb Temples》, 《The Drum and Pipe Music》 and the 《Dance Music》were for the use by the imperial court; I would like to quote the following poem as an example  for the part:
 

  日 出 入                           Ri Chu Ru
日出入安穷？                     Ri chu ru an qiang?
时世不与人同！                 Shi shi bu yu ren tong!
故春非我春，                     Gu chun fei wo chun,
夏非我夏，                          Xia fei wo xia,
秋非我秋，                          Qiu fei wo qiu,
冬非我冬。                          Dong fei wo dong.
泊如四海之池，                  Bo ru si hai zhi chi,
遍观是耶谓何？                  Bian guan shi ye wei he?
吾知所乐，                          Wu zhi suo le,
独乐六龙。                          Du le liu long.
六龙之调，                          Liu long zhi diao,
使我心若。                          Shi wo xin ruo.
訾，                                      Zi,
黄其何不俫下！                  Huang qi he bu lai xia!