Voices of the Song Lyric in China (review)

Reviews 589 growth ofthe market, it has often been an advocate, promoter, and protector of private enterprise. Based on interviews conducted primarily in Sichuan province in the late 1980s and early 1990s, official documents, the Chinese popular press, and Chinese and Western academic literature, this well-written bookwill be useful for anyone interested in the development ofprivate business in China. Its value for specialists is enhanced by the careful documentation ofsources contained in the chapter endnotes. Richard F. Garbacelo East-West Center, Honolulu RichardF. Garbacelo is an East-West Center Fellow specializing in Chinese economic development. Pauline Yu, editor. Voices ofthe SongLyric in China. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994. xxi, 410 pp. Hardcover $45.00, isbn 0-520-08056-4. The study of song lyrics, or ci, is one of the most fascinating fields of Chinese literature . Ci is a literary form full of contradictions. It is often identified as the major literary form ofthe Song dynasty, and yet an examination ofliterary standards during the Song suggests that it held at best a peripheral importance. Its obscure origins in Tang dynasty popular music and its morally "questionable" themes earned it more condemnation than praise, and while some of the preeminent poets ofthe age wrote ci, even they were often reluctant to acknowledge ci as a legitimate literary form. Many of these authors or their editors even left ci out of their collected writings. The problematic nature ofthe ci within the Chinese literary tradition has perplexed anthologists and literary historians nearly from its beginnings. However, modern scholarship has been somewhat kinder to the study of ci, and a number ofexcellent studies written in English have created a great deal of interest in the Western world. After James Liu's Major Lyricists ofthe Northern Sung, many people began to turn their attention to the study of ci, drawn by Liu's ability to combine high critical standards and accessibility in a way that made ci appealing to both specialists and casual readers. Kang-i Sun Chang's The Evolu-© 1996 by University tion ofChinese Tzu Poetry and Shuen-fu Lin's The Transformation ofthe Chinese ofHawai'i PressLyrical Tradition maintained the same high standards found in Liu's work, while carrying the study of ci one step farther. A number ofother studies followed, all ofwhich can be found in the bibliography included in this book. 590 China Review International: Vol. 3, No. 2, Fall 1996 Consequently, Voices ofthe Song Lyric in China comes from the highest pedigree of sinology. Not only does it rest upon the solid foundation laid by Liu and many others over the last twenty years, but it even includes essays by the other two aforementioned ci specialists, together with essays by other top scholars in Chinese poetry. Anyone with some background in Chinese poetry will probably feel a mounting excitement as s/he glances through the table of contents, recognizing one by one many of the most prominent names in the field. As one's eyes stray from the impressive list of names to the tides of the essays, the excitement grows even more. While previous studies of ci have often been very thorough, there has tended to be a bias toward the ci of the Song dynasty, so that many important poets of later periods, especially women poets ofthe Qing, have been overlooked. In addition to Kang-i Sun Chang's essay on Xu Can and Liu Shi, major women poets of the Ming-Qing transition, die reader's eye might pause for a moment on the title of Grace Fong's "Engendering the Lyric: Her Image and Voice in Song." Tantalized by this title, one might scan the pages of Fong's essay, pleased to see poems by Zhu Shuzhen, He Shuangqing, Gu Taiqing, and even Wu Zao. This is not to say, though, that the book is devoted exclusively to these relatively neglected poets. There is also a great deal of new scholarship on many poets who are better known. Li Qingzhao fairs particularly well, with an essay by John Timothy Wixted and a lengthy treatment by Stephen Owen. In fact, Li is mentioned in most ofthe essays , receiving many much deserved kowtows. Fans...