Page 497 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

elaborate arrangements or wear the soft hats often She turned the pegs, brushed the strings,
found on figures of foreigners. sounding two or three notes
This troupe of women musicians likely repre- before they had formed a melody, already
sents part of the entertainment at one of the the feeling came through.
elaborate outings favored by the wealthy residents Each string seemed tense with it, each
of Xi'an during the seventh and eighth centuries. sound to hold a thought,
In his "Song of the Beautiful Ladies," Du Fu (712- as though she were protesting a lifetime of
770) provides a poetic description of these wishes unfulfilled.
entertainments. ...
Lightly she pressed the strings, slowly
Third month, third day, in the air a breath
of newness; plucked, pulled, and snapped them,
by Ch'ang-an riverbanks the beautiful ladies first performing, "Rainbow Skirts," the
Green."
"Waists of
crowd,
The big strings plang-planged like
warm-bodied, modest-minded, mild and
swift-falling rain;
pure,
with clear sleek complexions, bone and the little strings went buzz-buzz like secret
flesh well matched, conversations;
in figured-gauze robes that shine in the plang-plang, buzz-buzz mixed and mingled
in her playing
late spring,
like big pearls and little pearls falling on a
worked with golden peacocks, silver
plate of jade,
unicorns.
...
On their heads what do they wear?
Kingfisher glinting from hairpins that As the piece ended, she swept the plectrum
her
in an arc before
breast,
dangle by sidelock borders.
On their backs what do I see? and all four strings made a single sound,
like the sound of rending silk. 3
Pearls that weight the waistband and subtly
set off the form. 2 Two styles of harps, both known as kanghou, were
used in Tang China. According to Tang and Song
The first woman in the group holds a small drum in dynasty sources, the larger version of the harp
one hand and prepares to strike it with the other; originated in western Asia and reached China
another woman plays a pair of cymbals. Large sta- through Central Asia. It was often elaborately
tionary drums and cymbals were employed in Late decorated with lacquer and inlaid materials. The
Bronze Age China; these smaller, portable forms
smaller version (played by one of the musicians),
(like many Tang musical instruments, apparently
4
was designed to be portable. A Tang poem likens
of Central Asian origin) would have been far better the sound of the kanghou to "10,000 real pearls
suited to less formal performances such as that cascading from a jade face." Another figure plays
5
represented in this group of figures. Another musi- a type of oboe, described in Tang texts as a short
cian plays the four-stringed chuding pipa (crook-
and thick, double-reeded instrument; it is thought
necked lute), or hu pipa (barbarian lute) — the to have originated in Kucha. MK
most common form of lute during the Tang dynasty.
Originating in western Asia, the Tang form of the 1 Excavated in 1991; reported: Xi'an 1997,14-19.
hu pipa reflects Central Asian influence; they were 2 Du, "Song of the Beautiful Ladies," in Watson 1984, 222.
likely imported, along with the musicians who 3 Bo, "Song of the Lute: Preface and Poem" in Watson 1984,
250.
played them. Bo Zhuyi in "Song of the Lute: Preface 4 Zhongguo 1977, 64.
and Poem" describes a woman playing the lute: 5 Zhongguo 1977,103, Terese Bartholomew trans.

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