Shan'ge, the 'mountain songs' : love songs in Ming China

Mountain Songs is a collection of folk songs edited by the famous writer Feng Menglong (1574-1646). By this innovative work - mainly written in the Suzhou dialect - he aimed to revitalize poetry through the power of popular songs. This collection is very significant to the understanding of the characters of the mobile society of Jiangnan and the vitality of its intellectual world. The songs deal with the lives of common people: women, often prostitutes, boatmen, peasants, hunters, fishers and paddlers. Their spirit is far from the orthodox moral intents that Zhu Xi advocated for interpreting the Shijing, and their language is often vulgar and full of crude expressions or salacious double meanings and contains allusions to sexual and erotic behaviour. List of illustrations vii 8 Preface ix 10 Acknowledgements xiii 14 Introduction to Feng Menglong’s Mountain Songs (Shan’ge) 1 Ōki Yasushi 16 “Secret Loves”.Folk love songs from Ming China 29 44 Annotated text of the songs with English translation 65 80 Chapter One ●山歌•卷一 “On Secret Loves in four lines”私情四句 65 80 Chapter Two ●山歌•卷二 “On Secret Loves in four lines”私情四句 111 126 Chapter Three ●山歌•卷三 “On Secret Loves in four lines”私情四句 151 166 Chapter Four ●山歌•卷四 “On Secret Loves in four lines”私情四句 171 186 Chapter Five ●山歌•卷五 “Miscellaneous Songs in fourlines” 雜歌四句 198 213 Chapter Six ●山歌•卷六 “On Objects in four lines”詠物四句 222 237 Chapter Seven ●山歌•卷七 “On Secret Loves in various styles” 私情雜體 269 284 Glossary 291 306 Bibliography 581 596 By Oki Yasushi & Paolo Santangelo. Includes Bibliographical References.