Yǒu Huǎng Jiāng Qǐ 有惶將起
The August One Is About to Rise (modern editorial title from opening phrase; 惶 is read as a graphic variant of 皇 “august/great”)
(anonymous; excavated bamboo manuscript, no attributable author)
About the work
Yǒu Huǎng Jiāng Qǐ 有惶將起 is a short lyric poem preserved on approximately 5 bamboo strips from the Shanghai Museum corpus of Warring States Chǔ 楚 manuscripts, published in 馬承源 Mǎ Chéngyuán ed., 《上海博物館藏戰國楚竹書》 vol. 8/9, Shànghǎi gǔjí chūbǎnshè 上海古籍出版社, 2011–2012. The text is written in Chǔ-style verse using the jīn xī 今兮 refrain (“now, ah …”) in place of the bare 兮 particle more typical of the Lísāo 離騷, suggesting it belongs to a slightly different lyric register within the broader Chǔ cí 辭 tradition.
Abstract
The poem opens with a declaration: “The august one is about to rise (有惶將起今兮) — help me teach and nurture my son (助余教保子今兮); let him roam in benevolence (使游於仁今兮).” This initial frame — a figure of authority instructing a child (yú zǐ 余子) in virtue — gives the poem a didactic cast. The speaker urges self-correction (zì huǐ jīn xī 自悔今兮), the ability to reform when wrong (yǒu guò ér néng gǎi 有過而能改今兮), and warns against outward conformity masking inner division (tóng fèng yì xīn 同奉異心今兮 — “carrying [the same banner] outwardly but with different hearts”).
The middle section turns to cosmic imagery: separated in dwelling yet sharing the same desires (lí jū ér tóng yù 離居而同欲今兮); roaming through the world (zhōu liú tiān xià 周流天下今兮); the sun and moon shining bright (rì yuè zhāo míng 日月昭明今兮). The poem cautions the child against “three deceptions” (sān kuǎng 三誑, reading uncertain). The concluding strips describe a broad road (dà lù 大路) lined with plants — dūn 敦 (mulberry?), wēi jiāo 葳椒 (?), and chǔ 楮 (paper mulberry) — and urge the child to grow quickly (yú zǐ qí sù zhǎng 余子其速長今兮) so he may assist the speaker and become a mature person (chéng fū 成夫) able to root out the paper mulberry weeds.
The precise identity of the “august one” (有惶 = 有皇, possibly a divine or royal figure about to manifest) and the speaker’s identity remain uncertain due to lacunae and difficult readings. Some editors read the poem as a parental instruction to a child about moral cultivation; others have proposed it as a royal or divine figure’s address to a protégé. The jīn xī 今兮 refrain recurs in other Chǔ lyric texts in the Shanghai Museum corpus (notably KR2p0081) and may mark a specific sub-genre of short devotional or instructional lyric verse.
The strips are moderately well preserved but contain several uncertain readings, particularly in the plant names of strip 5.
Translations and research
- 馬承源 ed., 《上海博物館藏戰國楚竹書》 vol. 8/9, Shànghǎi gǔjí chūbǎnshè, 2011–2012 — editio princeps.
- Shaughnessy, Edward L. Rewriting Early Chinese Texts. SUNY Press, 2006.
- Pines, Yuri. Envisioning Eternal Empire. University of Hawai’i Press, 2009.
Links
- Wikipedia (Shanghai Museum bamboo texts): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Museum_bamboo_texts