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I.THE MAN
Li Yu's courtesy name was Li—weng,and some of his other names were Che—fan,Li Tao—jen,Sui—an chu—jen,Hu—shang Li—weng,and Hsin—t'ing k'e—ch'iao.Although his ancestral home was the town of Lan—ch'i in Chekiang province,he was born in Hsia—chih,Hupeh.His parents must have moved to Hupeh,probably for financial reasons,in or before 1611,the year of his birth.They were well—to—do at one time but had suffered financial reverses.No definite evidence exists to show when the family moved back to Lan—ch'i from the middle Yangtze region.Internal evidence in his works indicates that his father died in 1629,that members of his family were stricken with an epidemic of some sort during the summer of 1630,and that his mother took care of the sick.
Li was known as a young genius,well versed in the classics and gifted in writing poetry,drama,and fiction.About 1635,at the age of twenty—four,he passed his first degree（hsiu—ts'ai）examination in Wuchow（Chin—hua）His essays on the classics were so good that they were printed and circulated by Hsu Ch'ih,the chief examiner.At that time or shortly thereafter he owned a retreat west of Lan—ch'i,known as Yi—shan pieh—yeh,and was a close friend of many local celebrities.
But his good fortune was soon threatened by political instability.Paralyzed by the misrule of powerful eunuchs,the Ming regime（1368—1644）faced the rebellion of Li Tzu—ch'eng in the western provinces and the everlooming threat of the Manchus from the north.Turmoil and chaos reigned over much of the country.As early as 1639,in passing Tiger—claw Mountain,Li Yu had been robbed by bandits who spared his life.On another occasion,on his way to Hangchow for the provincial examination,he had to interrupt his trip and return home upon hearing reports of rampant civil disorder and bandit activities.He explained his feelings at the time as follows:
Thinking anxiously of home I was.
Heaven has set my date for return.
Poetry and Book of History are met with death and confusion.
I shall farm and fish,awaiting peace to come.
The sail is broken,the wind is feeble,
The boat is empty and hollow—sounding;
Waves make noise.
What is there to be done?
Since scholars were expected to compete in examinations and,by being successful,to bring fame and honor to their ancestors,his poem conveys his sense of sorrow and regret at having to give up this last opportunity,after having failed in several previous attempts.
When Li reached thirty years of age（by Chinese reckoning,on New Year's Day,1640）,he commiserated with himself in a tz'u poem to the tune of "Courtyard Full of Fragrance"（Man—t'ing fang）:
Last night and today
Only moments apart
Yet they separate youth from old age.
If one asks how old I am,
I'm fully thirty years of age.
Last night I was
Nine and twenty,still boasting of adolescence.
Alas,now I can't call myself old;
I can't call myself young either.
My wife too has added one year to her life.
She prayed that I soon distinguish myself in examination halls.
Awaiting my success,she forgot her birthday.
Listening to my sighs and seeing me holding a cup in my hand,
She counted with her tiny fingers,knitting her eyebrows together.
Let's never talk about winning honors and rank;but let's
Stay intoxicated.
The year 1642was marked by financial difficulties and probably the death of his mother.In 1643civil wars raged within China.Li Tzu—ch'eng threatened Peking and captured it in 1644,proclaiming himself emperor of a new dynasty,the Shun.During this period of utter confusion,Li Yu had taken his family and fled to the countryside,as evidenced by the following excerpt from one of his poems:
Cities and towns are dens for war horses;
Allow me to live in the country.
One wife and without too many children,
Only one sack of books and my lute I shall take.
Though the peach blossoms of Ch'in are distant,
The flowing waters of Wu—lin smell sweet.
Go I shall and now
And never glance backward to the battlefield.
Reflecting upon that three—year period of voluntary exile（1643—1645）,Li wrote in A Temporary Lodge for My Leisure Thoughts（Hsien—ch'ing ou—chi）:
Between the collapse of the Ming regime and the victory of the Ch'ing,I desired neither academic success nor government position.I withdrew to the countryside and became fond of idling.In the summer I decided to receive no visitors but none came.I wore no kerchiefs,no clothes,and no shoes.As I lay naked among the lotus in the water,even my wife had difficulty in locating me.Sometimes I lay under the tall pines,unaware of the comings and goings of monkeys and cranes;other times I washed my inkstand under running brooks or brewed my tea using packed snow.When I yearned for melons,melons grew outside my house;when I desired fruits,fruits fell from trees.Those years were marked by extreme leisure,and the joys were the utmost in my life…In reviewing my whole life,those three years were the most enjoyable.
In the spring of 1645he sought shelter in the house of Hsu Ch'en—chang,also known as Hsu Hsi—ts'ai,a mandarin in the prefecture of Chin—hua,Chekiang province.Hsu,a great admirer of Li's talents,welcomed Li and even provided him with a concubine named Ts'ao,a young widow formerly married to a Ming official.Though grateful to Hsu for his generous gift,Li was rather worried about how his own wife would react to his acquiring a concubine.To his surprise,his wife loved Ts'ao as much as he did,and the two women lived amiably together in the same bedroom.Inspired by the harmonious relationship between wife and concubine,Li later composed the dramatic play,Pitying the Fragrant Companion（Lien—hsiang—pan）
In 1646the invading Manchus neared Chin—hua,and Li was forced to leave Hsu and return to Lan—ch'i.Accustomed to a good life,he was downhearted at losing Hsu's patronage.In a poem written on New Year's Eve in 1647he wallowed in self—pity:"I write very little /My thin bones make me look like a crane /and sparseness of hair makes me resemble a bald monk./Every New Year's Eve brings an increase of sighs and sorrows."
In 1647Li sold his country retreat in Lan—ch'i and moved to Hangchow,the provincial capital of Chekiang province.Using a pseudonym,"Fisherman of the Lake"（Hu—shang Li—weng）,he began writing in earnest.By 1655he was able to support his family entirely through his literary endeavors,and his fame as a writer endeared him to many local celebrities.In Hangchow,where he stayed for approximately ten years,he wrote many poems and essays,as well as dramas and fictional works.
Li left Hangchow for Nanking in 1657,charging that his books had been pirated by unethical publishers in Hangchow and Soochow.Although this charge had some validity,other reasons might have been that he was in financial difficulties and that Chekiang's coastal cities were subjected to forays from Taiwan led by General Cheng Ch'eng—kung（1624—1662）（known to the West as Koxinga）who was a Ming official retaining his allegiance to the collapsed Ming regime.With the exception of periodic trips to other provinces,Li stayed in Nanking for approximately twenty years.Socially popular,he moved among fellow playwrights and other talented writers,artists,historians,and high government officials.
Among his friends was Chi Chen—yi（b.1630）,a young magistrate of Lan—ch'i.Originally from a very wealthy family in T'ai—hsing,Kiangsu,Chi was a well—known bibliophile,having collected many Sung and Yuan editions of classical works.His collection was probably the best north of the Yangtze.In his household,he kept three troupes of actresses for constant entertainment.
Then there was Yu T'ung（1618—1704）,a historian and the author of a tsa—chu play,Chanting "On Encountering Sorrow"（Tu Li—sao）,and of other plays.He was most appreciative of Li's literary accomplishments,for Li had helped him revise some of his manuscripts.Besides Yu T'ung,there was Yu Huai（1616—1696）,the author of several works on Chinese inkstones and on tea,and the compiler of the famous Notes on a Wooden Bridge（P'an—ch'iao tsa—chih）,a work of reminiscences of the lives of singing girls in Nanking.One of his essays entitled "On Shoes and Socks for Women"is included in Li's A Temporary Lodge for My Leisure Thoughts.Yu Huai also wrote critical commentaries on,or prefaces to,Li's works.Both Yu T'ung and Yu Huai enjoyed Li's dramatic productions.On one occasion,when Li Yu and his dramatic troupe performed in Soochow,they were so impressed by the productions that they wrote highly complimentary poems to mark the occasion.And when Li staged his revised play,"Brewing Tea,"adapted from Lu Ts'ai's（1497—1537）The Bright Pearl（Ming—chu chi）,the performance did not end until daybreak;but it is reported that no one in the audience noticed how late it was as they had all been completely spellbound.In the audience were several small children,one of whom was Yu Huai's six—year—old son who was already quite familiar with the rhythm and able to follow the castanets'beating time.
Among important officials,Li knew the three Hsu brothers very well.Hsu Ch'ien—hsueh（1631—1694）,Hsu Ping—yi（1633—1711）,and Hsu Yuan—wen（1634—1691）had all distinguished themselves in the imperial examinations.Ch'ien—hsueh and Ping—yi each won third place in the palace examinations in different years,and Yuan—wen won first place（chuang—yuan）in 1659.Another friend was the official,poet,and dramatist Wu Wei—yeh（1609—1672）Wu served both the Ming and the Ch'ing regimes but retired to T'ai—ts'ang in 1657after suffering disappointments in his political career.Li visited him in T'ai—ts'ang several times.They compared notes on literature,feasted together,and Li wrote poems about Wu's villa and the beauty of Wu's flower garden.
Li also knew Wang Shih—chen（1634—1711）,the author of the poem "Willows in Autumn,"who advocated an intuitionist's view of poetry.Stationed in Yangchow between 1660and 1665and in Ch'ing—chiang p'u in 1669and 1670,Wang admired Li's literary talent and presented him with some of his own publications.And with Chou Liang—kung（1612—1672）,Li shared a common interest in compiling anthologies of both selected essays and letters by contemporaries.Chou served as grain intendant in Nanking from 1666to 1669.Last but not least of Li's acquaintances was Ts'ao Hsi（d.1684）,the superintendent of the imperial textile factory in Nanking in 1663and 1664,and the great—grandfather of Ts'ao Hsueh—ch'in（d.1763）,the author of Dream of the Red Chamber.
Personally,Li's Nanking period must also have been satisfying:his earlier fear of not being able to have male offspring proved incorrect.In 1660,at age fifty,his first son was born,and he gave a lavish celebration for his friends.Two more sons were born to him in the next two years.However,the new and welcome arrivals made him painfully aware of his increasing expenses.Shortly afterward he opened a bookstore,the Mustard Seed Garden,near his house.The Mustard Seed Garden was situated on what was called the Terrace of Marquis Hsiao,known to have been a former study of Chou Ch'u（A.D.240—299）,a scholar of the Three Kingdoms and Chin periods.The name "Mustard Seed"is a Buddhist allusion which implies philosophically that Mount Sumeru can be placed in a tiny mustard seed.It was a successful business venture,and its quality books are still prized by bibliophiles.Despite the handsome income derived from the Mustard Seed Garden,he was unable to meet his financial obligations.Returning from a business trip in the spring of 1666,just before Chinese New Year's Eve,he admitted that he had pawned all his valuables and could not even afford to buy the narcissus that he loved so much.
Before long,Li journeyed to Peking,the national capital,which he had visited once before in 1658.By this time his financial situation seems to have improved,since he was accompanied by several servants and an unnamed concubine.En route,he tasted the apples,pears,and luscious grapes grown in the north,an experience fully recorded in some of his parallel prose.In Peking he was much impressed by the day—to—day life of its inhabitants,and made many friends including Kung Ting—tzu（Chih—lu,1616—1673）,the Minister of Justice and also a poet,and Songgotu（d.1703）,the influential Manchu nobleman who in 1689signed the Treaty of Nerchinsk with the Russians.
However,the Peking air was cool and dry as well as dusty（since the wind deposited in the city the sand from the arid region north of the Great Wall）,and this made Li uncomfortable and he wanted a daily bath.The Northerners,however,bathed only infrequently,and he had great trouble in obtaining a bathtub.When he finally succeeded,he declared that his happiness and intoxication were like having just made love to a woman.
Li and his drama company moved on to Shensi via P'ing—yang,Shansi.In P'ing—yang,several local go—betweens approached Li,urging him to buy a certain local girl as a companion to his concubine.The girl,named Ch'iao Fu—sheng,was very pretty and clever.One day when Li's new play,Female Phoenixes Courting the Male（Huang—ch'iu—feng）,was being performed with orchestral accompaniment,Ch'iao and another concubine were watching it and listening to the music behind a screen.When questioned by Li the next day about the background and some of the musical lines,Ch'iao interpreted them correctly.With the help of a local official,Li bought Ch'iao.Even though only twelve or thirteen years of age at the time,she soon learned to sing melodies in the Soochow pitch and became the leading actress in Li's troupe.
Early in the following year（1667）,Li and his company arrived in Sian,the provincial capital of Shensi,where they stayed for four months and probably gave public performances.Their host was Chia Han—fu,or Chia Chiao—hou（1606—1677）,the governor of Shensi from 1662to 1668.A vegetarian since birth,Chia was fond of compiling local gazetteers,and owned the famous "Garden of Half—an—Acre"in Peking where scholar—officials from Shensi were invited to stay during visits to the capital.Li had made suggestions to Chia as to how he could lend some individuality to the Garden's scenic spots.While in Shensi,Li led four members of his troupe to climb Mount Hua,which rises to about twenty—two hundred meters and is one of China's five sacred mountains.In crossing its gorges,Li and his companions had to cling to strong ropes,and the girls had their shoes and shirts torn.Reaching the peak at last,they shouted and sang so loudly in the exultation that they "shocked the mountains."
Toward the end of the year,Li and his company moved to Lanchow,Kansu,as guests of Liu Tou,the provincial governor.Then he was invited to visit General Chang Yung,also known as Fei—hsiung（1616—1684）,who was posted at Kan—ch'uan to guard the northwest frontiers against the Mongols,the Eleuths,and the aborigines of Kokonor.On his way to Kan—ch'uan from Lanchow,Li noted that the aborigine girls let their hair grow to the ground and decorated it with pearls and jewels if they were rich,and with shells if poor,and that all the aborigines lived in tents made of horse or ox hides.When Li met the general,the latter urged Li not to bow because the general had been wounded so often that he could not reciprocate the courtesy.Li thoroughly enjoyed the general's company and that of his other friends,some of whom had bought for him a few singing girls from Lanchow before his arrival.
One of the girls,Wang Tsai—lai,a year younger than Miss Ch'iao,had a very mild disposition and later played the male roles in Li's operas.Li loved both Ch'iao and Wang dearly.Ch'iao had been taught singing and acting in Sian by an experienced retired actor who had served in a prince's household in Lanchow at the time of the fall of the Ming dynasty.The new girls learned singing and acting from the talented Miss Ch'iao;with her as the principal teacher,Li's family troupe became a more viable organization,fulfilling one of his early dreams as stated in A Temporary Lodge for My Leisure Thoughts:
My temperament favors playwriting,and it is universally acknowledged that I have written many plays.Often putting myself in the actors'roles,I test the lines.I prefer to select my own actors.With my mouth I teach them the art of singing;with my body I demonstrate to them the required movements.Not only are my plays different from those written by other playwrights,but even the old songs composed by earlier playwrights become refreshingly original after I have deleted their flaws and given them a new style.
His troupe performed regularly for friends and patrons.It inspired him to devote more time to playwriting and helped him formulate his dramatic theory,the scope and depth of which was unprecedented in the history of Chinese drama criticism.
In 1668Li returned to Nanking.In 1670he went to Fukien and Kwangtung provinces and returned again to Nanking the next year.He and his troupe had also been to the provinces of Shantung,Honan,and Kiangsi,but these were short trips only briefly mentioned in his works and usually without dates.In 1672,in the first month of the lunar calendar,he and his troupe,under extremely adverse weather conditions,sailed up the Yangtze River to Hanyang,Hupeh.Their boat was battered by heavy winds and rain,and the trip from Nanking to Kiukiang took twenty—three days.At one time the waters were so rough and the wind so violent that many of the girls,huddled together in the cabin,broke into tears,fearing that the boat might capsize and they would be drowned.Fortunately,a favorable wind from Kiukiang helped them reach Hanyang in four days.There they disembarked.In Hanyang and Wuchang,Li met many high officials who not only watched the performance of his plays but also presented handsome gifts to him,his concubines,and maids.That winter,Miss Ch'iao gave birth to a daughter in Hanyang.
In the spring of 1673,Li traveled north by boat,probably only with a part of the troupe.Miss Ch'iao was by then already unwell,but she kept her condition secret lest she be prevented from accompanying him.Apparently the trip was short and the income from it meager,though the itinerary might have included Shansi or Peking.When they returned to Hanyang,Ch'iao's illness could no longer be concealed from Li and physicians were quickly summoned.She had been suffering from tuberculosis for over a year,and the physicians decided that she had malaria too,and concluded that the intense summer heat might have been the cause of her recent illness.Due to the lack of proper treatment,she died that autumn.A most capable assistant in Li's drama productions,she had also been very close to him personally and her early death was a crushing blow.He escorted her coffin back to Nanking and wrote more than twenty elegiac poems,bitterly lamenting his incalculable loss.
Earlier,in late 1673,the little girl born to Miss Ch'iao also died.In a pathetic deathbed scene,the dying mother had entrusted the child to Miss Wang Tsai—lai's care,but Miss Wang was also ill and at the same time,very unhappy,since she was vying with another concubine for Li's affections.
In 1674Li visited Peking for the fourth and last time,accompanied by two concubines,Miss Wang and a Miss Huang,both bosom friends of the deceased Ch'iao.Huang was pregnant,and Wang,while on the boat,had certain symptoms usually connected with pregnancy.Overjoyed at the prospect,she used her private savings to prepare baby clothes,but to her utter disappointment found,a month or so after her arrival in Peking,that she was not pregnant at all.She died shortly thereafter in Peking at the age of eighteen;Miss Huang gave birth to a son on the return journey with Li the following spring.Like her friend Ch'iao Fu—sheng,Wang had had an excellent voice and was well qualified to play the male roles in Li's many plays.Her death,coupled with Ch'iao's earlier demise,drove Li to distraction.In addition to composing ten elegiac poems in Miss Wang's memory and a biographical account of his two beloved concubine—actresses,Li seemed to have lost all interest in life.Moreover,his staunch patron,Minister Kung Ting—tzu,died in October 1673,and Li's other Peking friends could not offer him much financial assistance.This was another sharp disappointment.
Whenever Li was away from Nanking with his troupe,his household's management was left to his eldest daughter,Li Shu—chao,who was married to Shen Hsin—yu,a distinguished painter.Li's second daughter Shu—hui was married to Yu Tzu—ch'en,of whom we know little.We do know that both daughters were well versed in the composition of tz'u poems,and from Li's Complete Works we know that he accompanied his two sons,Chiang—shu and Chiang—k'ai,to sit for their first—degree examinations in Wuchow in 1675.As old age and declining fortunes mercilessly haunted him,he yearned to settle permanently in Hangchow.Helped by a few friends,he purchased a home,Ts'eng—Yuan,an old garden on a little hill in Hangchow.But he could move from Nanking to Hangchow in the spring of 1677only after he had sold his house in Nanking,his woodblocks,his personal effects,and his jewelry to satisfy his debtors.After he had settled down in his new house,he fell from the second floor to the ground in an accident that almost took his life.Nonetheless,the same summer he again accompanied his two sons to take their examinations.After he returned,he had both malaria and dysentery.In 1678his financial condition improved,enabling him to finish the construction of a few uncompleted houses on his property.In 1679he wrote the preface to the first series of the Painting Patterns of the Mustard Seed Garden（Chieh—tzu—yuan hua—chuan）,collected by his son—in—law,Shen Hsin—yu and illustrated by another painter,Wang Kai.Shortly afterward,Li's health rapidly deteriorated and he died,probably in 1680.
To sum up,Li lived in Hsia—chih and Lan—ch'i until he was thirty—seven;he then moved to Hangchow and later to Nanking.During his Nanking years he made many trips to other provinces and visited Peking on at least four occasions.He died in Hangchow.
A writer,editor,publisher,and producer of dramatic plays without inherited wealth or government position,Li lived far beyond his means.His houses in Lan—ch'i,Nanking,and Hangchow were decorated with taste and elegance;his clothes and those of his family were of good and fashionable material;his board was always available to friends;his women were young and beautiful.On the other hand,the income from selling his own books and the profits from his bookstore were scarcely enough to meet the expenses of a household of more than forty members,which included his five sons,three daughters,a wife,concubines,maids,and other servants.His major source of income,it would seem,came from his drama tours.For instance,during one of his trips to Sian,Shensi province,he was given enough money to pay off his earlier debts;and on another trip an admiring patron gave him a concubine,Miss Ch'iao.
Despite the income from his tours,he was always strapped for money.Out of necessity he begged unashamedly from his patrons.Whenever rebuffed he complained bitterly about the shabby treatment given to professional writers by an unappreciative society.The following is an example of his frequent outbursts:
I have always considered myself a writer ever since I began to write.Though I dare not boast of the writing of grandiose prose,I am somewhat skilled in writing poetry,drama,and fiction.Without copying others,in the last several decades I,the Fisherman of the Lake,have entertained many.But now I am hungry and without food,cold and without clothing…Even peasants and hawkers can find enough to feed themselves.In olden days,even people with minor skills were treated with respect by the wise and the powerful.Examples are too numerous.And today many who have such petty skills as chess—playing,song—singing,bail—kicking,and storytelling are richly rewarded by officials who scheme to get their attention.On the other hand,I am too well educated.I shall not mention my many books,but the little one,A Temporary Lodge for My Leisure Thoughts,is itself unique.Now all my skills have been exhausted.I am without a load of rice,something with which to start the family stove,or money for daily expenses.I must borrow from another who may possess one single saleable skill.This is a shame for a man of my talents.True,there have been talents in the past that were not recognized but rather scorned by society,but they were either crafty,slanderous,or greedy.Has anyone ever known me to be like that?Although an affable and contented man,I am about to starve to death.I do not seek pity from others and no one is offering any.This is my shame.
Strangely,no matter how serious his financial problems,he never seemed to consider reducing his expenses and offered the following excuse:
Relatives and friends have despised me for not accepting the difficulties of the time,for spending money too freely,and for my poverty today.But they do not understand that my past extravagances were not paid for by me but by others.Whatever food,provisions,and clothing I have were given to me.My few concubines were not purchased with my money but were given to me as presents.Many of them are dead now.Die they may,but I can never sell them.
Unwilling to compromise his living standards,he sacrificed his pride and begged from his patrons,fully aware of how difficult it was to please them,as he lamented in the following poem:
The way of the world is not like that of old.
Difficulties abound in journeying from one place to another.
That I not be as prosperous as others is the will of Heaven.
Friends forgive me for not desiring official rank.
My repeated silences.Dare I ever hope for much from anyone?
Ten thousand tribulations to bring a little pleasure to my patrons,
Hard work and diligent writing have given me a meager living.
How dare I dream of a precarious life in Han—tan?
II.HIS ART OF LIVING
The meaning of human existence has been the focal point of philosophical inquiry since Plato and Aristotle.The subject has also been examined and reexamined in China—by Confucius,Lao Tzu,Mo Tzu,and others.In examining Li Yu's writings,the reader is likely to discover that his view of life bears closer comparison to the classic Cyrenaic,Epicurean,and Utilitarian philosophies than to Confucian humanism,to Lao Tzu's renunciation of life and society,or to Mo Tzu's regard for the welfare of men.
Well aware of the vicissitudes of life—its illnesses,its countless hardships,and the ups and downs of personal fortunes—Li comments that life is so brief that every person must live it to the fullest within the limitations set by the Creator.Taking essentially a biological view of life,he details in A Temporary Lodge the pleasures he takes in the clothes he wears,the food he eats,the places in which he lives,his daily activities,his inventions of little domestic items,the securing of happiness for rich and poor,his appreciation of nature,his methods of minimizing worries,the grooming of women,and the regulation of sexual needs.
Li says that a person should dress with discriminating taste.This principle is particularly valid when applied to women's clothing:
The important thing about women's dress is not fineness of material but neatness,not gorgeous beauty but elegance,not that it agrees with her family standing but that it agrees with her face…If you take a dress and let several women try it on in succession,you will see that it agrees with some and not with others,because the complexion must harmonize with the dress.If a wealthy lady's face does not agree with rich patterns but agrees with simple colors,and she should insist on having rich patterns,would not her dress be the enemy of her face?Generally,one whose complexion is white and soft and whose figure is light and round will be shown to advantage in any dress.Light colors will show her whiteness but deep colors will still better show her whiteness.Dresses of fine material will show her delicacy,but dresses of coarse material will still better show her delicacy…But how few women are of this type!The average woman must choose her dress,and must not take any kind of material.