Sima Xiangru

Template:Family name hatnote Sima Xiangru (pronounced Template:IPAc-cmn, c. 179Template:Snd117BC) was a Chinese musician, poet, and politician who lived during the Western Han dynasty. Sima is a significant figure in the history of Classical Chinese poetry, and is generally regarded as the greatest of all composers of Chinese fu rhapsodies. His poetry includes his invention or at least development of the fu form,Template:Sfnp applying new metrical rhythms to the lines of poetry, which he mixed with lines of prose, and provided with several of what would in ensuing centuries become among a group of common set topics for this genre. Sima Xiangru was also versatile enough to write in the Chu ci style, while it was enjoying a renaissance, and he also wrote lyrics in what would become known as the yuefu formal style.

Early life and career

File:Zhuo Wenjun.png

Sima's Sichuan wife, Zhuo Wenjun, his "love at first sight", (as imagined in 18th-century illustration)

Sima Xiangru was born in the commandery of Shu (now Sichuan Province) in the early 2nd century BC. He probably was born in 179BC, but some sources give it variously as 172, 171, or 169BC.Template:Sfnp Most sources agree that he was born in Chengdu, although the 19th-century scholar Wang Peixun proposed he may actually have been from Pengzhou (modern Peng'an County).Template:Sfnp

Little is known of Sima's family and ancestry. His family may have been descended from Sima Cuo (; fl. 316–280BC), a Qin general who led Qin's invasion of Shu in the late 4th century BC.Template:Sfnp During his youth he is said to have been a studious child who read widely, and to have been a lover of swordsmanship.Template:Sfnp As a youth, Sima took the name "Xiangru" out of admiration for the Warring States period leader Lin Xiangru.Template:Sfnp

Around 150BC, while in his twenties, Sima left his home in Shu and traveled to the imperial capital Chang'an. He received a court appointment "by virtue of property", which means he had at least 40,000 copper cash.Template:Sfnp He was made a mounted military attendant to Emperor Jing of Han, which was a low-ranking position but allowed Sima to accompany the emperor and the court on imperial excursions.Template:Sfnp Sima does not seem to have enjoyed this position, likely because Emperor Jing, and his mostly Legalist advisors, were known for their dislike of literary embellishment.Template:Sfnp

In 149BC, Sima moved to Liang (modern northern Anhui, southern Shandong, northeastern Henan, centered around modern Shangqiu city) to become a guest scholar at the court of Liu Wu, Prince of Liang, Emperor Jing's younger brother.Template:Sfnp The prince's court already held a number of prominent literary men of the era, including Mei Sheng (; d. 141BC), Zou Yang (; fl. 150BC),Template:Sfnp and Zhuang Ji.Template:Sfnp During this period, Sima began composition of his "Fu on Sir Vacuous" (Zixu fu 子虛賦), which later became the first half of his famous fu on the Shanglin imperial hunting park.

Sima stayed in Liang until Prince Liu Wu's death in 143BC, after which he returned to his home area of Shu.Template:Sfnp Sima no longer had any money, and he lived in a state of near poverty after returning home.Template:Sfnp His fortunes improved when he was taken on as a protégé of Wang Ji, the magistrate of Linqiong (modern Qionglai, Sichuan).Template:Sfnp Wang introduced Sima to Zhuo Wangsun (; fl. 140BC), a wealthy iron manufacturer, and Sima immediately fell in love with Zhuo's recently widowed daughter Zhuo Wenjun.Template:Sfnp In 142BC, the following year, Sima and Zhuo Wenjun eloped together. Sima's biography states that the couple supported themselves by running an ale shop until Zhuo's father was forced by public shame into recognizing their marriage, giving the couple 1,000,000 copper cash, 100 servants, and valuables from the dowry of Zhuo's first marriage.Template:Sfnp

Imperial career

In 137BC, the young Emperor Wu of Han summoned Sima to Chang'an.Template:Sfnp The traditional account of this incident states that the emperor happened across a copy of Sima's "Fu of Sir Vacuous", and was so impressed by it that he exclaimed, "Why do I not have the privilege of being this man's contemporary?!"Template:Sfnp The account states that Yang Deyi, the keeper of the imperial hounds and a native of Shu, happened to overhear the emperor's exclamation, and informed him that Sima was the piece's author, whereupon Emperor Wu immediately had Sima summoned to the imperial capital.Template:Sfnp Notwithstanding its liveliness and charm, modern scholars have noted a number of logical inconsistencies in this traditional account, and do not consider it to be accurate.Template:Sfnp

In the subsequent, more credible portion of the story, Sima appeared before Emperor Wu and stated that he wished to compose a grand fu on the emperor's excursions and hunts.Template:Sfnp The emperor had the chief steward of writing give Sima a supply of brushes and bamboo slipsTemplate:Refn which Sima used to compose his magnum opus, a fu on the imperial hunting reserve usually entitled "Fu on the Shanglin Park" (Shanglin fu ), though its original title was probably "Fu on the Excursions and Hunts of the Son of Heaven" (Tianzi youlie fu ).Template:Sfnp The emperor was so pleased with Sima's composition that he immediately appointed him to a position at the imperial court.Template:Sfnp

Sima served Emperor Wu by composing fu for special court occasions, though none of these have survived to modern times.Template:Sfnp Because of Sima's background in the Shu area, the emperor made him his personal envoy to what was then the southwestern frontier of China, of which Shu was a part.Template:Sfnp Around 131BC, Sima traveled to Shu on an imperial mission to mediate a dispute between the local population and the area's oppressive governor, after which the emperor promoted him to General of the Gentlemen of the Household (zhonglang jiang ), a fairly high-ranking position at the imperial court.Template:Sfnp Sometime later, Sima was accused of taking bribes while on the mission, and was summarily dismissed from his position.Template:Sfnp Although he continued to enjoy the emperor's favor, and was brought back to court after several years, he never again served in a high-ranking position, and seems to have largely lost interest in court affairs.Template:Sfnp

During Sima's brief tenure as General of the Gentlemen of the Household, Emperor Wu dispatched him back to Shu to oversee a roadbuilding project in the southwest.Template:Sfnp Upon arriving with his large entourage from the capital, Sima was proudly greeted by his father-in-law Zhuo Wangsun, who decided to bequeath to Zhuo Wenjun a large portion of his estate, equal to that of a son's.Template:Sfnp This generous inheritance made Sima and his wife independently wealthy, so that after Sima was dismissed from his post around 130BC, he had no need for further employment.Template:Sfnp

Later life

Between 130 and 120BC, Sima's primary activities were writing poetry and occasionally accompanying Emperor Wu on imperial outings.Template:Sfnp Around 120BC, Sima accepted an appointment as director of Emperor Wen of Han's funerary park, though the position was probably a sinecure.Template:Sfnp Around 119BC, Sima resigned this position due to increasing illness (likely diabetes), and retired to Maoling, a town where Emperor Wu had members of wealthy and influential families live so he could surveil them.Template:Sfnp In 117BC, word reached the imperial court that Sima was dying, and Emperor Wu dispatched an official to visit his home and collect his writings to preserve them.Template:Sfnp However, by the time the official reached Sima's mansion, he had already died, aged approximately 62.Template:Sfnp

Works

The "Monograph on Art and Literature" (Yiwenzhi 藝文志) from the Book of Han (Han Shu 漢書) lists 29 fu by Sima Xiangru, but only six complete fu and a fragment of another have survived to modern times, and two of the six surviving fu are of disputed authenticity among modern scholars.Template:Sfnp None of his poetical, non-fu works are listed.Template:Sfnp A dictionary entitled Fan jiang () is also listed among Sima's works, but only five fragments of it have survived.Template:Sfnp

The 5th-century anthology Selections of Refined Literature (Wen xuan 文選) preserves three of Sima's fu, as well as four non-fu pieces: his "Proclamation on Ba and Shu" (Yu Ba Shu xi ), "Refuting the Elders of Shu" (Nan Shu fulao ), "Letter Admonishing Against Hunting" (Jian lie shu ), and "Essay on the Feng and Shan Sacrifices" (Feng Shan wen ).Template:Sfnp

A volume of Sima's collected works appears in the bibliography catalogs of the dynastic histories of the Sui and Tang dynasties, but it seems to have been lost during the Song dynasty.Template:Sfnp Modern versions of it are Qing dynasty reconstructions pieced together from quotations in other works.Template:Sfnp

Influence

Besides being an important poet of the Han dynasty, Sima Xiangru has also influenced later art and artists.

See also

• Fu
• Han poetry, a general article on poetry associated with the main time-frame of this dynastic era
• Science and technology of the Han dynasty, regarding gimbals in Chinese architecture
• Zhuang Ji

References

Works cited

• Translated and introduced by David Hawkes