Yu Xuanji
Yu Xuanji | |
---|---|
Born | c840 |
Died | c868 (aged 28) |
Cause of death | Execution |
Nationality | Chinese |
Other names | Youwei Huilan |
Occupation | Poet, courtesan |
Spouse(s) | Li Yi |
Yu Xuanji (simplified Chinese: 鱼玄机; traditional Chinese: 魚玄機; pinyin: Yú Xuánjī; Wade–Giles: Yü Hsüan-chi, c840–c868),[1] courtesy names Youwei (Chinese: 幼微; pinyin: Yòuwēi) and Huilan (simplified Chinese: 蕙兰; traditional Chinese: 蕙蘭; pinyin: Huìlán), was a Chinese poet and courtesan of the late Tang dynasty, from Chang'an. She was one of the most famous women poets of Tang, along with Xue Tao, her fellow courtesan.[2]
Biography[]
Little trustworthy information is known about the relatively short life of Yu Xuanji.[1] She was born or grew up in Tang capital Chang'an,[3] which was the terminus of the Silk Road and one of the most sophisticated cities of its time. Yu was married as a concubine, or lesser wife, to an official named Li Yi (simplified Chinese: 李亿; traditional Chinese: 李億; pinyin: Lǐ Yì) at 16, separating three years later because of Li's primary wife's dislike of Yu.[4]
She became a courtesan and had a "painted boat" on the Wei River.[5] Yu later took her vows and became a Daoist nun at the Xianyi guan (咸宜觀, Abbey of Universal Benefit).[6] Daoist nuns were at the time known for their sexual freedom[7] and, as was common at the time, Yu continued as a courtesan.[8] During her time as a nun she travelled frequently and her travels influenced her writing.[7] Yu had a reputation for being sexually adventurous and is recognised by some as China's first openly bisexual female.[7]
She was a fellow of Wen Tingyun, to whom she addressed a number of poems. Apart from names and dates in her poems, the tabloid-style Little Tablet from the Three Rivers, (三水小牘), gives the only purported facts about her life. These are however salacious in detail: it reports she had an affair with Wen Tingyun, lived a scandalously promiscuous life, and was executed by decapitation[4] at the age of 28[1] for allegedly strangling her maid, Luqiao, to death.[4] This account is considered semi-legendary, and may be a reflection of the traditional distrust of women who were strong-willed and sexually independent.[2]
Poetry[]
Yu Xuanji is distinctive for the quality of her poems, including many written in what seems to be a remarkably frank and direct autobiographical style; that is, using her own voice rather than speaking through a persona. In her lifetime, her poems were published as a collection called Fragments of a Northern Dreamland, which has been lost. The forty-nine surviving poems were collected in the Quan Tangshi,[4] mainly for their freak value in an anthology that also included poems from ghosts and foreigners.[9]
English translations[]
Published in 1998, her work was translated by the team of David Young and Jiann I. Lin.[10] In the 2000s, her work was translated by Stephen Owen and Justin Hill.
Name[]
Her family name, Yu, is relatively rare. Her given name, Xuanji, means something like "Profound Theory" or "Mysterious Principle," and is a technical term in Daoism and Buddhism. "Yòuwēi" means something like "Young and Tiny;" and, Huìlán refers to a species of fragrant orchid.[1]
Media[]
In 1984 the Shaw Brothers Studio in Hong Kong made a film about her life entitled 唐朝豪放女 (An Amorous Woman of Tang Dynasty), starred Pat Ha and Alex Man.[4]
In 1988, the Asia Television Limited in Hong Kong filmed an anthology drama series about her life, titled 歷代奇女子 (Those Famous Women in Chinese History), starred , and Kingdom Yuen
Yu Xuanji is the subject of the 1915 short story Gyogenki by Japanese author Mori Ōgai.[11] She was the nun in Robert van Gulik's 1968 "Judge Dee" novel Poets and Murder.[12]
Justin Hill's Somerset Maugham Award award-winning novel Passing Under Heaven reimagines Yu Xuanji's life.[13]
Notes[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d Young & Lin 1998, p. ix.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Chang, Saussy & Kwong 1999, p. 66.
- ^ Young & Lin 1998, p. ix, citing the Guoyu Cidian..
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Kohn & Roth 2002, p. 102.
- ^ Kohn & Roth 2002, p. 114.
- ^ Kohn & Roth 2002, p. [page needed].
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Olivia Bullock (艾文婷) (21 October 2014). "Badass Ladies of Chinese History : Yu Xuanji". The World of Chinese. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
- ^ Chang, Saussy & Kwong 1999, p. 67.
- ^ Young & Lin 1998, p. x.
- ^ Young & Lin 1998, p. iii.
- ^ Mori 1991, p. 185.
- ^ Lee & Wiles 2014, p. 571.
- ^ "Passing Under Heaven". Justin Hill. 18 December 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
References[]
- Chang, Kang-i Sun; Saussy, Haun; Kwong, Charles Yim-tze (1999). Women Writers of Traditional China: An Anthology of Poetry and Criticism. Stanford University Press. ISBN 9780804732314.
- Fu, Shousun, "Yu Xuanji". Encyclopedia of China (Chinese Literature Edition), 1st ed. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. (in Chinese)
- Kohn, Livia; Roth, Harold David (2002). Daoist Identity: Cosmology, Lineage, and Ritual. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-2504-1.
- Lee, Lily Xiao Hong; Wiles, Sue (2014). Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: Tang Through Ming, 618-1644. M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 9780765643162.
- Mori, Ogai (1991). Dilworth, David; Rimer, J. Thomas (eds.). The Historical Fiction of Mori ÅOgai. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 9780824813666.
- Xuanji, Yu; Yü, Hsüan-chi (1998). The Clouds Float North: The Complete Poems of Yu Xuanji. Translated by Young, David; Lin, Jiann I. Wesleyan University Press. ISBN 9780819563446.
- Chinese women poets
- Tang dynasty poets
- 840s births
- 869 deaths
- Executed Chinese women
- People executed by the Tang dynasty
- 9th-century executions
- 9th-century Chinese women writers
- 9th-century writers
- Chinese courtesans
- Tang dynasty Taoists
- Writers from Xi'an
- Executed Tang dynasty people
- Executed people from Shaanxi
- 9th-century Chinese poets
- Poets from Shaanxi