Poems of an Afterlife Encounter, together with Yan Jun, Chen Palace Imperial Consorts

Advanced Scholar Yan Jun was demoted from Huichang and traveled to Guangling. A fellow passenger was a servant, aged about 20, whose surname was Zhao, given name Youfang. When it was time for them to part, it was the Zhongyuan Festival, and they wandered the Wa Palace pavilion, where they encountered an immortal’s go-between. Jun went to speak with him, and as a result left there and met a beauty along with a ‘young fragrance.’ The beauty said, “My house is at Qing Creek,” and invited Jun to go over there, for she was Chen Dynasty’s Principal Consort Zhang. A moment later, Consort Kong also arrived. He asked about the ‘young fragrance,’ and was told she was the Principal Consort’s maid-servant, who afterward served as a Sui Palace attendant and died in the Jiangdu Rebellion. They arranged for wine and composed poems. [TN: all four poems] Because he remained there, Jun lay down together with the Principal Consort, until daybreak arrived and she departed. He searched for her place in the lands around Qing Creek, but the Chen Palace people were all in their graves. Jun was wretched and sorrowful, and returned.

Composed by Principal Consort Zhang
Bleak terrace in the autumn grass, the sounds of crickets at night—
The poplar trees have fully withered, the mournful winds die off.
The many-colored note that once was torn deceived Jiang Zong.
The fine pavilion vanished into dust—the jade trees empty.

Composed by Consort Kong
A precious pavilion lined with clouds, worthy for seeing immortals—
Five-colored clouds, lofty and splendid, clasping the daybreak sky.
Qing Creek is just like, at that time, there was a shining moon
And in response exquisite flowers burst forth a lavish feast.

Composed by Youfang
The sky’s white orb starts round, but then resents the ladies fair—
The many blooms, a gaudy crowd, are in the end like what?
The Southern Courts, although there was the water of the Yanzi,
Just as of old, before their gateway, it makes passing waves.

Jun’s Poem
A peaceful song to flutes and pipes—I hate the beautiful blossoms.
Cold moonlight on the autumn river—the patterned shutter’s tilted.
Ashamed of slanders on their last ruler, I scribe a verse as a guest—
I ought to see the flowers on Approaching Spring Pavilion.

与颜浚冥会诗
作者：陈宫妃嫔
〈会昌中，进士颜浚下第，游广陵，同载有青衣，年二十许，自云姓赵，名幼芳。临别，期之中元游瓦官阁，当一会神仙中人。浚如言果往，见美人，及幼芳亦在。美人言：“家在清溪。”邀浚过之，则陈朝张丽华也。须臾，孔贵嫔亦来，问幼芳，乃是丽华侍儿，后为隋宫御女，死于江都之乱者。命酒赋诗。浚因留与丽华同寝，达曙而别。寻其处，地近清溪，乃陈朝宫人墓，浚惨恻而返。〉

秋草荒台响夜蛩，
白杨凋尽减悲风。
彩笺曾擘欺江总，
绮阁尘消玉树空。〈丽华赋〉

宝阁排云称望仙，
五云高艳拥朝天。
清溪犹有当时月，
应照琼花绽绮筵。〈贵嫔赋〉

素魄初圆恨翠娥，
繁华浓艳竟如何。
南朝唯有长江水，
依旧门前作逝波。〈幼芳赋〉

箫管清吟怨丽华，
秋江寒月绮窗斜。
惭非后主题笺客，
得见临春阁上花。〈浚诗〉

Time for another spot of potted history: the Chen Dynasty, the last of the Southern Dynasties, was conquered by Sui Dynasty forces in 589 to reunify the empire for the first time in three centuries. Consort Zhang and Consort Kong were favorites of the last Chen Emperor, and when Sui forces closed in on his palace near modern Nanjing and Yangzhou, he famously hid with them in a well. Spoiler: this didn’t work. The consorts were blamed for the collapse of his reign and executed by a Sui general, but the deposed emperor lived for another 15 years in captivity. This return to un-imperial rank may be why he’s more commonly known by his given name, Shubao, instead of his regnal name, Houzhu.

To rectify clarify terms, an emperor’s “consort” here translates any of a couple higher ranks of concubines-slash-secondary-wives, distinguished from the “empress” who’s The Official Wife and the “concubines” who are various lower ranks of, well, concubine. That sentence got away from me. At her death, Zhang was Principal Consort (with a literally flowery title: “elegant flower”), and the emperor was considering replacing his current empress with her when the war broke out.

And we finally get to the other major festival of the dead: Zhongyuan aka the Ghost Festival, on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month, during which sacrifices were traditionally made to one’s ancestors. Unlike during Tomb-Sweeping Festival/Cold Food Day, the ghosts were believed (in both Toaist and Buddhist traditions) to visit and eat the sacrificial food—very like the Day of the Dead in Mexican Catholicism. (In Japan, this is celebrated as Obon, if that helps.)

I’m intrigued that mention of the servant drops out of the narrative, but he apparently tagged along with Jun and joined the poetry slam. I’m assuming he didn’t “lie down together” with Consort Kong and/or the young fragrance, but ya never know. (Yet another thing for next Yuletide.)

headnote: Same Qing Creek near Nanjing as an earlier poem where we met a ghost who experienced the start of the Chen Dynasty. Same rebellion at Guangling = Jiangdu = Yangzhou as the Linzi County Magistrate, at the fall of the Sui Dynasty, which happened only 30 years after the fall of Chen. Huichang is in Jiangxi, two provinces south of the Jiangsu setting—so there was time to get well acquainted with a fellow-traveler. An immortal’s go-between is a servant of a Daoist immortal who handles their dealings with the mortal world, and yes there’s a specific term for this.

1: Jiang Zong was a Chen Dynasty official and poet, who was serving as prime minister when the Sui attacked, a pesky little problem he ignored in favor of partying with the empress in the imperial harem. His incompetence is possibly why he survived the dynasty’s fall by another five years. I haven’t tracked down the incident of the torn note-paper.

3: This poem uses a lot of flowery poeticisms. For example, idiom: the fair ladies is literally “kingfish-green beauty.” The wide and strong-flowing Yanzi is an excellent defensive barrier that many northern armies failed to cross over the millenia.

4. The mentioned pavilion was attached to a palace built by the last Chen emperor.

---L.