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Some Notes on the Authorship of the Lii Ling/Su Wuu Letters—I
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 December 2009
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A. The Story of Su Wuu and Lii Ling
As is well known, the authorship of the Lii Ling/Su Wuu letters is disputed. Before embarking on the re-examination of this question which is the main purpose of the present paper, I wish to recall the story of Su Wuu and Lii Ling as it can be gathered from the relevant material embedded in Ban Guh's Hann Shu, in order to provide appropriate data for comparison with what is stated or implied in the letters. I limit myself to the Hann Shu in preference to either the Shyyjih or the Chyan Hann Jih because the relevant material in the two latter histories is practically identical with the data given in the Hann Shu, whereas a great deal more of such material given in the Hann Shu has not been included in the other two histories. As regards other sources, it is obvious that for the present purpose I must ignore the body of legends which has grown up around the historical figures of Su Wuu, the fearless and faithful envoy of Hann Wuu-dih to the court of the Shiongnu
, and the much lamented, hapless general Lii Ling, ever since their exploits in the ‘Far North’ became known to the empire. Su Wuu, the paragon of loyalty and perseverance, whose survival in the inhospitable clime was even attributed to supernatural interference and whose service was later rewarded with great honour and material wealth, formed a contrast to Lii Ling, who was unfortunate enough to be given an almost impossible task for ‘political’ reasons, and subsequently became a victim of professional jealousy and low treachery.
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- Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , February 1953 , pp. 113 - 137
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- Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1953
References
page 113 note 1 I shall attempt to supply the obvious links between the various quotations from source material so as to ensure continuity in the narrative. In order to do so I find it more practicable to present a free paraphrase of most of the quotations instead of a literal translation as is usually the case.
page 113 note 2 The text used in this paper is the small lithographed edition, printed by Wenrueylou of the Hann Shu Buujuh by Wang Shian-chian.
page 113 note 3 By Shyun Yueh .
page 113 note 4 Hann Shu Buujuh, by Wang Shian-chian, J 54, p. 51a, .
When Su Wuu was implicated in a plot against a favourite of the king of the Shiongnu, he was arrested and threatened with the sword. He was adamant and refused to surrender. The Shiongnu then left him out in the wilderness, apparently with the intention of starving him to death. Then it snowed and Su ate the tassel (made from fur) on his banner pole, the emblem of his mission, together with the snow. He was still alive after several days, so the Shiongnu thought he had supernatural powers.
page 113 note 5 Loc. cit., J 54, P.46b, .
.
Lii Ling was sent out with only 5,000 troops as a diversion to relieve the pressure on the general Lii Guang-lih , brother of the Lady Lii
, the emperor's favourite concubine.
page 113 note 6 Loc. cit., J 54, pp. 46b–47a, .
In the battle with the Shiongnu Lii Ling's defeat was partly due to the memorial sent up by the old general Luh Bor-der who was jealous of Lii Ling's position as chief commander at the front and was discontented with his own position in the rear. General Luh worded his memorial in such a way as to cause the emperor to suspect Lii Ling of being unwilling to execute his orders. Thereupon he ordered Lii to march immediately without adequate linking up with other troops or sources of supply. Meanwhile General Luh was not anxious to give any help in the rear, and so Lii Ling had to fight the Shiongnu single-handed. Even then he nearly succeeded, because the Shiongnu were surprised by his prowess and gallantry and began to fear that Hann troops were hidden in his rear, and so thought of withdrawing from their position.
Loc. cit., J 54, p. 47b,
But meanwhile one of Lii Ling's batmen was beaten up by his second in command and this soldier deserted to the enemy and revealed the secret that Lii's troops as well as supplies and weapons were nearly exhausted and that there were no hidden Hann troops in the rear. This treachery caused the Shiongnu to return and deal the final blow to Lii's hard-pressed troops.
page 114 note 1 See , by Symaa Chian
loc. cit. J 62 P. 11b,
.
page 114 note 2 Hann Shu Buujuh, J 54, p. 49a,Google Scholar
When the emperor regretted that he did not give Lii a fair chance and sent General Gongsuen Aur to effect Lii's release, he was told by Gongsuen that Lii was training Shiongnu troops for battle against Hann. Thus Lii was considered a traitor and his family were executed.
page 114 note 3 Loc. cit., J 54, p. 49a,
Lii Ling discovered why the punishment meted out to his family was so severe only when he met an envoy from Hann, who explained that it was reported that he was training the troops of the enemy. Thereupon Lii explained that it was Lii Shiuh who was the culprit, not himself.
page 114 note 4 Loc. cit., J 54, p. 49a, .
page 114 note 1 Loc. cit., J 54, p. 52b, .
page 114 note 2 Naturally he had reason to doubt the welcome he would receive at the Hann court after what had happened. Moreover, having grown old and having been settled for so long in another country, he probably did not care for a radical change. His excuse was that he was not prepared to face disgrace a second time Loc. cit., J 54, p. 49b.
page 114 note 3 Loc. cit., J 54, p. 51b, .
page 115 note 1 Loc. cit., J 54, p. 51b–52a,
page 115 note 2 Loc. cit., J 54, p. 52b.
page 115 note 3 Loc. cit., J 54, p. 53a, .
page 115 note 4 Loc. cit., J 54, p. 53b, (51 B.C.)
.
page 115 note 5 SBBY bound edition
(8) J 35, p. 325a
page 115 note 6 SBBY bound edition (10) J 47, p. 603b
.
page 115 note 7 SBBY bound edition (13) J 60, p. 449a
.
page 117 note 1 SBTK , No. 322, Liow Chern Juh Wen-sheuan
. This text of the Wen-sheuan is used for references in this paper.
page 117 note 2 Compiled by Yu Shyhnan , A.D. 558–638, of Swei
.
page 117 note 3 Compiled under Imperial command by Lii Faang and others in A.D. 983.
page 117 note 4 by Sheen Der-chyan
, 1673–1750, of Ching Dynasty.
page 117 note 5 compiled by Ding Fwu-bao
published in 1916.
page 117 note 6 For letters later referred to as 1 and 2 see Pl. XXIII–IV. The letter later referred to as 3 has not been reproduced as it is easily accessible in Chinese anthologies.
page 117 note 7 compiled under Imperial auspices by Ouyang Shyuu
(A.D. 557–641).
page 118 note 1 edited by Guoh Goong
of Ching
with a preface dated 1703.
page 118 note 2 edited by Wu Chuu-tsair
of Ching
, with a preface dated 1695.
page 118 note 3 This shortened version has been included in the Basic Sinological Series
(published in 1933). Both the shortened version and the main work (Harnfenlau, Guujin Wenchau) were edited by Wu Tzeng-chyi (
) the main work as early as 1910.
page 118 note 4 I came across the title of these letters in Dr. L. Giles' own catalogue of this collection to which I had access by his kind permission. The first of these letters has been well preserved, but a large number of characters in the second have been blotted out.
page 118 note 5 As Professor W. Simon has kindly informed me, three MSS. containing copies of Letters 4 and 5 are included among the collection of P. Pelliot's Duen Hwang MSS. in the National Library Bibliothèque Nationale), Paris, MS. Nos. 2498, 2847, and 3692.
page 120 note 1
page 120 note 2
page 120 note 3 See below, p. 122, under III, 2.
page 121 note 1 the Wen-sheuan Jyi Pyng, Fuh Bar
, J. 10, p. 82. (References to this book have been kindly supplied by Mr. Y. Lee by correspondence, as this book is not accessible to me.)
page 121 note 2 .
Again
. Loc. cit.
page 121 note 3 Liou Jy-jii actually says that Symaa Chian did not include it in his Shyy-Jih. See p. 122.
page 121 note 4 Ju Four of Later Hann.
page 122 note 1 Only the better known scholars of this group are given here. For further contributions to this question there are useful references in Luoh Horng-kae's Wen-sheuan Shyue
published by the Chunghwa Press, Shanghai, 1937, pp. 169–172. Also see the essay on Lii Ling
by Bor Jiu-yih
who based his judgment of Lii's character partly on Letter 3, in the Harnfenlou Guujin Wenchau Jeanbian, J. 1, pp. 54–55.Google Scholar
page 122 note 2 In the chapter
page 122 note 3 In his in
, Basic Sinological Series, J 9 (Letters), p. 13.
page 122 note 4 In his Wen-sheuan Lii Juh Buu-jenq , TSJC
p. 66.Google Scholar
page 122 note 5 In the Ju-Pi Wen-sheuan (), 1772, J 41, pp. 2a and 4b–5a.
page 123 note 1 i.e. the full rites of handing over a bundle of coloured earth to a prince so that with it he could build the temple to the earth god and the god of grains in his own state. For further details see below, note 2, p. 131.
page 123 note 2 Because he was most reluctant to accept the office of chief minister. See Hann Shu Bnujuh, J 66, pp. 12b–13b.Google Scholar
page 123 note 3 The Hann envoy to the Far West, Jang Chien . See Hann Shu Buujuh, J 61 p. 24a–28b.Google Scholar
page 123 note 4 Chwenyu Charng . See Hann Shu Buujuh, J 93, pp. 29b–30a.Google Scholar
page 123 note 5 In the Ju-Pi Wen-sheuan, J 41, p. 5a.Google Scholar
page 124 note 1 In his anthology Guuwen Shiyih with a preface dated 1716, J 3, p. 18b
page 125 note 1 In fact the style of Ju's letter and his other pieces included in his biography in the How Hann Shu and in the Donghann-wenjiann
by Chern Jiann
of Sonq, in the edition of Woanwoei-byetzanq
, reprinted by the Palace Museum, Peking, 1935, J 3, p. 10b–13b does not bear a very close resemblance to that of Letter 3.
page 125 note 2 More of this in pp. 129, 130.
page 125 note 3 Practical enough to leave Hann behind and settle down to a new life as necessity dictated and serve his new patron even in military expeditions against Hann troops when required. See Hann Shu Buujnh, J 94, p. 14aGoogle Scholar.
page 126 note 1 See below, p. 130.
page 126 note 2 , CSSCHSLW J 20, pp. 2a–4a.Google Scholar
page 126 note 3 It is rather significant that MS. No. 2498, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, is dated A.D. 928 (), when recitals of stories of heroic or noble characters had gained great popularity and attracted large audiences among the populace.
page 127 note 1 Seeabove.p. 123, n. 5, : I am not sure what Yeh means here. The three letters preserved in the well-known collections of literary works are one from Su Wuu and two from Lii Ling. I take it that he calls Letters 1, 2, and 3 Lii Ling letters for short. If his statement is not to be taken in the loose sense I have indicated then he must have had access to three other Lii Ling letters, which are no longer extant.
page 128 note 1 The numbers in square brackets refer to the numbering of the letters.
page 129 note 1 CSSCHSLW, J 19, pp. 8a–11a.Google Scholar
page 129 note 2 loc. cit, J 20, pp. 2a–4a.
page 129 note 3 loc. cit, J 32, pp. 3a–4a.
page 129 note 4 See letters by Ju Four (
) and Chern Lin
(
) in the Wen-sheuan; by Bau Jaw
and Liou Shiaw-yi
in the Liowchaur Wen-shye Jian-juh
compiled by Sheu Lian
, with a preface dated 1825, and the commentary by Li Jing-gaw
.
page 130 note 1 These letters are included in the , CSSCHSLW, J 96, pp. 8b–9b.Google Scholar
page 130 note 2 In Liowchaur Wenshye Jianjuh loc. cit, J 7, pp. 8b–9a.Google Scholar The commentator derives the phrase
. from Letter 3
Although there is the possibility that both phrases have been derived as stock phrases from the common source created by the legends around the episode of the Hann princess given in marriage to the King of the Usuen
, the repeat of
and
in this order seems to be a direct echo of Letter 3.
page 130 note 3 Loc. cit. J 7 pp. 1a–4a.
page 130 note 4 For instance, compare Jiang Yan's with his less deliberately imitative fuh, in Jiang Wentong Jyi
SBTK.
page 131 note 1 See above, p. 123.
page 131 note 2 SBTK 464 P. 76Google Scholar
See also Tayping Yuhlaan,
SBTK, J 198, p. 2b.
page 131 note 3 See above, p. 123.
page 131 note 4 Han Shu Buujuh J 54, p. 52h.
page 131 note 5 Loc. cit., J 54, p. 53b.
page 131 note 6 Lii Ling died in 74 B.C.
page 132 note 1 . Hann Shu Buujuh, J 39, p. 29a.Google Scholar
page 132 note 2 Regarding the use of the epithet see e.g. Peywen Yunnfwu
and Pyantzyh Leybian
.
page 132 note 3 Wensheuan, SBTK J 30, p. 37a.Google Scholar
page 133 note 1 see p. 114 n. 3.
page 133 note 2 See Wensheuan Shyue . by Horng-kae, Luoh
, Chunghwa Press, Shanghai, 1937, p. 171.Google Scholar
page 133 note 3 and
were mentioned by Lii's visitor at the invitation of Hann for Li Ling to return to China, see p. 115.
page 133 note 4 Quoted in Wensheuan Shyue , loc. cit., p. 171.Google Scholar