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The Yutai xinyong 玉臺新詠 "New songs from a Jade Terrace" is an anthology of poems from the Eastern Zhou 東周 (770-221 BCE) to the early Liang period 梁 (502-557). It was compiled by Xu Ling 徐陵 (507-583) during the mid-Liang period. In 10 juan "scrolls" the Yutai xinyong contains 769 poems, divided into regular poems (shi 詩) in 8 juan, popular songs (gexing 歌行) in 1 juan and quatrains (wuyan siju shi 五言四句詩) in 1 juan. There is actually only one poem dating from the Zhou period (Yueren ge 越人歌), while all others were written during and after the Han period 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE). According to the preface the songs were selected according to their content, with a preference for love songs (yange 豔歌). Unlike the anthology Wenxuan 文選 it is therefore a specialized collection. There are, nevertheless, also some children songs (tongyaoge 童謠歌) among the selection and more popular songs than in the Wenxuan, like the famous ballad Kongque dongnan fei 孔雀東南飛 "Peacock flies to the south-east". The Wenxuan thus represents probably a comparatively higher level of literature. The chapter containing quatrains is especially noteworthing because it demonstrates how the development of the jueju genre 絕句 of short poems developed which flourished during the Tang period 唐 (618-907). The Yutai xinyong also includes a lot of contemporary poems of the elegant and refined Yongming style 永明體 prevailing at that time, like Shen Yue’s 沈約 Bayong 八咏 which gives an impression of the confluence of the shi genre with the genre of rhapsodies (fu 賦). Some poems included in the Yutai xinyong are not to be found in other anthologies, like Cao Zhi's 曹植 Qi fu shi 棄婦詩, Yu Xin's 庾信 Qixi shi 七夕詩 or works of female poets like Ban Jieyu 班婕妤, Bao Linghui 鮑令暉 or Liu Lingxian 劉令嫻. A lot of poems included in the Yutai xinyong belong to the best pieces of Chinese poetry, like Shangshan cai miwu 上山采蘼蕪, Mo shang sang 陌上桑, Yulin lang 羽林郎 or the above-mentioned Kongque dongnan fei.
The earliest extant print is that of Master Sun 孫氏 from Wuxi 無錫 from the Ming period 明 (1368-1644). Zhao Jun 趙均 during the late Ming period reproduced a Song period 宋 (960-1279)
print. The Yutai xinyong is included in the collectaneum Sibu congkan 四部叢刊. The Qing period 清 (1644-1911) scholar Wu Zhaoyi 吳兆宜 wrote a commentary and a text-critique.
Source: Cao Daoheng 曹道衡 (1986). "Yutai xinyong 玉臺新詠", in: Zhongguo da baike quanshu 中國大百科全書, Zhongguo wenxue 中國文學, vol. 2, p. 1186. Beijing/Shanghai: Zhongguo da baike quanshu chubanshe.
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Exemplarious translation:
＜陌上桑＞
日出東南隅，照我秦氏樓，
秦氏有好女，自名為羅敷。
羅敷喜蠶桑，采桑城南隅。
青絲為籠系，桂枝為籠鉤。
頭上倭墮髻，耳中明月珠。
緗綺為下裙，紫綺為上襦。
行者見羅敷，下擔捋鬍鬚，
少年見羅敷，脫帽著帩頭。
耕者忘其耕，鋤者忘其鋤。
來歸相怨怒，但坐觀羅敷。
使君從南來，五馬立踟躕。
使君遣吏往，問是誰家姝？
秦氏有好女，自名為羅敷。
羅敷年幾何？二十尚不足，
十五頗有餘。
使君謝羅敷，寧可共載不？
羅敷前置辭，使君一何愚。
使君自有婦，羅婦自有夫。
東方千餘騎，夫婿居上頭。
何用識夫婿，白馬從驪駒。
青絲系馬尾，黃金絡馬頭，
腰中鹿盧劍，可值千萬餘。
十五府小史，二十朝大夫，
三十侍中郎，四十專城居。
為人洁白皙，鬑鬑頗有鬚。
盈盈公府步，冉冉府中趨。
坐中數千人，皆言夫婿殊。
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Six old folk songs: Mulberry up the lane (Sunrise at the southeast corner; Han)
Sunrise at the southeast corner shines on our Qin clan house.
The Qin clan has a fair daughter, she is called Luofu.
Lofu is good at silkworm mulberry, she picks mulberry at the wall's south corner.
Green silk is her basket strap, cassia her basket and pole.
On her head a twisting-fall hairdo, at her ears bright moon pearls.
Green silk is her lower skirt, purple silk is her upper shirt.
Passersby see Luofu, drop their load, stroke their beard.
Young men see Luofu, take off caps, put on headbands.
The ploughman forgets his plough, the hoer forgets his hoe.
They come home cross and happy - all from seeing Luofu.
A prefect from the south is here, his five horses stand pawing the ground.
The prefects sends his servant forward to aks, "Whose is the pretty girl?"
"The Qin clan has a fair daughter, her name is Luofu."
"Luofu, how old is she?" - "Not yet quite twenty, a bit more than fifteen."
The prefect invites Luofu, "Wouldn't you like a ride with me?"
Luofu steps forward and refuses: "You are so silly, Prefect!
You have your own wife, Prefect, Luofu has her own husband!
In the east more than a thousand horsemen, my husband is in the lead.
How would you recognize my husband? His white horse follows black colts,
green silk plaits his horse's tail. Yellow gold braids his horse's head.
At his waist a lulu dagger - worth more than ten million cash.
'At fifteen he was a country clerk, at twenty a court official,
at thirty a chancellor, at forty lord of his own city.'
As a man he has a purt white complexion, bushy whiskers on both cheeks.
Majestic he steps into his office, dignified he strides to the courtroom,
where several thousand in audience all say my husband has no rival!"
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古詩十九首＜青青河畔草＞
青青河畔草，鬱鬱園中柳。
盈盈樓上女，皎皎當窗?。
娥娥紅粉狀，纖纖出素手。
昔為倡家女，今為蕩子婦。
蕩子行不歸，空床難獨守。
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Nineteen Old Poems, Nr. 2: Green green riverside grass (Han)
Green, green riverside grass, lush, lush willow in the garden,
sleek, sleek a girl upstairs, white white faces her window.
Fair, fair her rouge and powder face, slim, slim she shows her white hand.
Once I was a singing-house girl, now I am a playboy's wife.
A playboy roves, never comes home, my empty bed is hard to keep alone.
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蔡邕＜飲馬長城窟行＞
青青河邊草，綿綿思遠道。
遠道不可思，宿昔夢見之。
夢見在我旁，忽覺在他鄉。
他鄉各異縣，輾轉不可見。
枯桑知天風，海水知天寒。
入門各自媚，誰肯相為言。
客從遠方起，遺我雙鯉魚。
呼兒烹鯉魚，中有天素書。
長跪讀素書，書中竟何如。
上言加餐食，下言長相憶。
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Cai Yong (d. 192 AD)?: Watering horses at the Long Wall hole
Green, green riverside grass. Skeins, skeins of longing the far road,
the far road I cannot bear to long for. In bed at night I see him in dreams,
dream I see him by my side. Suddenly I wake in another town,
another town, each in different parts. I toss and turn, see him no more.
Withered mulberry known wind from the skies, ocean waters know chill from the skies,
I go indoors, everyone self-absorbed, who wants to speak for me?
A traveller came from far away, he brought me a double-carp.
I call my children and cook the carp. Inside there is a white silk letter.
I kneel down and read the white silk letter. What does it say in the letter, then?
Above it has, "Try and eat!", below it has, "I'll always love you."
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Translated by Anne Birell.
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Chinese literature according to the four-category system
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