The Rhythm of the City: Everyday Chengdu in Nineteenth-Century Bamboo-Branch Poetry

"Bamboo-branch poetry" (zhuzhici), lyrical descriptions of everyday life written by members of the elite class and containing four lines of seven characters each, was a traditional form of Chinese folk literature. ¹ Unlike most other forms of poetry, bamboo-branch poetry was not meant to express the poet's imagination, emotions, or abstract thinking. Rather, it was a literary form that directly and concretely described people, events, and things—although it also often included the author's opinions. Bamboo-branch poetry largely dealt with people's real life, also described in some traditional Chinese narratives as distinguished from lyric poetry. ² Although Qing poets "did not invent new genres" as did the poets of Tang, Song, and Yuan times, they did compose verse more closely related to people's lives. The emergence of bamboo-branch poetry was most likely attributable, as some scholars point out, to "the rise of realism in Qing poetry." ³ Because of this feature, bamboo-branch poetry contains rich information regarding everyday life in the Qing dynasty, that is usually absent in conventional historical data. Bamboo-branch poetry also provides insights into how local elites viewed ordinary people and popular culture.

Historians of Chinese popular culture increasingly use literature as a primary source of data, including scripts of local operas, popular novels, and proverbs. ⁴ As is true for most Chinese cities, it is difficult to find direct accounts of ordinary life in Chengdu before the twentieth century in historical documents; therefore, folk literature has become very valuable for us to reconstruct the everyday life the nineteenth century. Although folk tales do not directly document historical events, they sometimes reveal a sense of culture. As Michel de Certeau claimed, standard histories examine the "strategies of instituted powers," whereas "fabulous stories" offer audiences a basis for understanding their culture. ⁵ However, scholars have not fully recognized the value of bamboo-branch poetry as a source of historical research. ⁶ This study seeks to explore everyday life, especially public life, in nineteenth-century Chengdu based on bamboo-branch poetry. ⁷ My objective in the use of folk poetry as a primary source will be twofold: to uncover descriptions of the colorful public life in Chinese cities and to determine the attitudes of elites toward commoners. In conducting this research, I have found that bamboo-branch poetry could be likened to the "rhythm of the city." The cadence of the poems indeed mimicked the rhythms of Chengdu, and the text lyrically described the atmosphere, feeling, and consciousness of urban daily life.

Scholars agree that Sichuan was the birthplace of bamboo-branch poetry. Their studies have shown that many Tang (A.D. 618-907) poems repeatedly described Sichuan "bamboo-branch songs" (zhuzhige). ⁸ One explanation for the popularity of bamboo-branch poetry in Chengdu likely can be found in the historical importance of the bamboo tree in everyday life in that city. Bamboo groves could be found in public gardens, mansions, backyards, and various public spaces in Chengdu, not to mention in abundant groves surrounding farmers' homes. Many kinds of furniture (such as tables, beds, and chairs) as well as everyday household items (fans, mats, and chopsticks) were made of bamboo. Indeed, foreign missionaries were often fascinated by the relationship between bamboo trees and people's lives. ⁹ Therefore, it is not surprising to find a connection between bamboo trees and folk literature.

Unlike other types of Chinese poetry, bamboo-branch poetry's style was simple and did not require adherence to the strict rules of traditional Chinese verse. Scholars of Chinese literature regard bamboo-branch poetry as "folk songs" (min'ge) or "folk poetry." By using this form, poets were able to express directly what they saw and how they felt about the city, townspeople, and urban life. Despite the subjectivity inherent in any form of human expression, these poems can be regarded...