In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Traces of Hatchet and Chisel 71 Traces of Hatchet and Chisel Qian Qianyi’s Reflections on Yellow Mountain 4 Qian Qianyi’s “Account of My Travels at Yellow Mountain” is an essay in nine parts, to which is attached a tenth part in the form of a preface 序. In total it consists of over 5,300 characters, most sections being of approximately equal size, with the exception of Part V, which at 927 characters approaches double the length of any other section. Written as an accompaniment to a set of poems composed on the mountain, the prose essay is based around a trip Qian made during the xinsi 辛巳 year (1641), but was not itself written until the first month of the following year, 1642. Almost two decades ago in his treatment of Qian’s Yellow Mountain poems, Jonathan Chaves noted the existence of two distinct groups: #1– 18 providing a “detailed, sequential account of the actual trip,” and #19–24 offering “a reprise of the trip by highlighting certain major spots that [Qian] visited” (with a final poem written upon Qian’s descent giving a total of twenty-five).1 Chaves noted also that the two groups — the “narrative” and the “lyric” — are further distinguished by their metre: seven-character lines in the former and five-character lines in the latter, arguing that the presence of the narrative style of poem allows one to read the set as a type of youji.2 In the present context, Chaves’ analysis is particularly interesting, as my own reading of the nine sections of the prose essay similarly reveals two distinct groups that might be said to correspond to Chaves’ narrative and lyric voices. Although perhaps not immediately evident on first reading, only Parts I–VI provide a sequential narrative, while Parts VII–IX are more reflective, corresponding to the reprise we find at the end of the poem set.3 This division serves as a reminder that Qian’s own poems would have been his most immediate source 72 Qian Qianyi’s Reflections on Yellow Mountain of information for the prose essay, which was written not on the mountain itself but in his studio some months later.4 Several features of the essay prove problematic when examined in relation to external textual evidence. The first of these concerns the proposed participation in the trip of Qian’s friend Cheng Jiasui. The wording of the Preface (辛巳春余與程孟陽訂黃山之游) is somewhat ambiguous on the issue of when this plan was forged, suggesting on first reading that the agreement was made only in the spring of the xinsi 辛巳 year (1641). Cheng Jiasui’s own account is that the plan was made during the twelfth month of the gengchen 庚辰 year (1640),5 a date that makes more sense given the subsequent movements of the two men. In the end, Cheng did not take part in the trip, although textual explanations for this tend to be somewhat contradictory. Qian’s Preface has it simply that “[w]hen a month had passed with [Jiasui] still not having arrived . . .”, while in his biography of Cheng in the Liechao shiji Qian removes all mention of his friend’s planned participation.6 Cheng admits that Qian was forced to start without him after he arrived late, not setting out for Hangzhou until the first day of the third month.7 Chen Yinke speculates that Cheng’s apparent reluctance to reach the meeting point on time was the result of uncertainty over whether the young Liu Shi, to whom Cheng had not warmed, would make the ascent with Qian. We know that Liu and Qian were together during the early part of that year, as the two left several poems composed during this period (see below). According to Chen, by the time it became clear that Liu would not climb the mountain, it was already too late for Cheng to meet Qian as originally planned (Chen invokes the “pitiful” image of a septuagenarian “playing hideand -seek like a child”).8 That he wished to omit this episode from his Yellow Mountain story is one possible explanation for Qian’s spurious dating of the trip we find in Part I of the essay (“I started out from Shang Hill on the fifth day of the second month”) and in his essay “Shao Youqing shicao xu” 邵幼青 詩草序 [Preface to the Poetic Drafts of Shao Youqing], which similarly dates the trip to the second lunar month of that year. However, a reconstruction of the itinerary based on Cheng...

Share