THE HALBERD AT RED CLIFF Juw on ond the Three Kin^lotm X I A O F E I T A N The Halberd at Red Cliff Harvard-Yenching Monograph Series 108 The Halberd at Red Cliff \ Jianan and the Three Kingdoms Xiaofei Tian Published by the Harvard University Asia Center Distributed by Harvard University Press Cambridge (Massachusetts) and London 2018 © 20i8 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College Printed in the United States ofA merica The Harvard University Asia Center publishes a monograph series and, in coordination with the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, the Korea Institute, the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, and other faculties and institutes, administers research projects designed to further scholarly understanding of China, Japan, Vietnam, 10>rea, and other Asian countries. The Center also spon­ sors projects addressing multidisciplinary and regional issues in Asia. The Harvard-Ycnching Institute, founded in 1928, is an independent foundation dedicated to the advancement of higher education in the humanities and social sciences in Asia. Headquartered on the campus of Harvard University, the Institute provides fellowships for advanced research, training, and graduate studies at Harvard by competitively selected feculty and graduate students from Asia. The Institute also supports a range of academic activities at its fifty partner universities and research institutes across Asia. At Harvard, the Institute promotes East Asian studies through annual contri­ butions to the Harvard-Yenching Library and publication of the Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies and the Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Tian, Xiaofei, 19 71- author. Title: The halberd at Red Cliff: Jianan and the Three Kingdoms / Xiaofei Tian. Other titles: Harvard-Yenching Institute monograph series ; 108. Description: Cambridge, Massachusetts : Published by the Harvard University Asia Center, 2017. | Series: Harvard-Yenching Institute monograph series; 108 I Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers： LCCN 20x6056558 | ISBN 9780674977037 (hardcover: alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Chinese poetry~~Qin and Han dynasties, 221 B.C.-220 A.D.—History and criticism. | Chinese poetry~~Three kingdoms, 220-265一History and criticism. | Chinese literature~History and criticism. Classification: LCC PL2314 .T53 2017 | DDC 895.11/209~dci} LC record available at https://lccn. Ioc.g0v/2016056558 Index by June Sawyers © Printed on acid-free paper Last figure below indicates year of this printing 24 23 22 2i zo 19 18 For George, my fellow fan Contents Acknowledgments ix Note on Sources xi Timeline of Chinese Dynasties xiii Map xv Introduction i PART I. THE PLAGUE Chapter I. Plague and Poetry: Rethinking Jianan n Introduction: Looking Back u “Dead Poets Society” 13 Gathering at Ye 30 The Poems 35 Reperforming Nostalgia 58 The Jianan That Is Unlike KJian，an” 72 Conclusion 78 Chapter 2. Circling the Tree Thrice: Lord, Vassal Community Introduction: Wang Cans Jade Pendant 79 Food and Feast 84 Hie Ideal Feast 90 Two Perspectives on Food 102 A Man of Taste 113 Gifts, Letters, Exchange 120 Give and Take 120 Ownership and Competition 131 A Dark Exchange 140 Conclusion 148 PART II. THE BRONZE BIRD Chapter 3. The Southern Perspective: etFan Writing” 159 Introduction: The Southern Perspective 159 The Fan 163 An Account of Luoyang 167 Bronze Bird 173 “Fan Writing” 181 The Poetics of Unified Empire 196 Conclusion 205 Chapter 4. Terrace and Tile: Ima^ning a Lost City 208 Introduction: Views of Ye 208 Ascending the Terrace: Early Writings 213 A Changed View from the Terrace 222 Irony and Criticism： Later Variations 241 Fragmentation: The Bronze Bird Inkstone 253 Conclusion 279 PART III. THE RED CLIFF Chapter 5. Restoring the Broken Halberd 283 Introduction: The Broken Halberd 283 Going Local, Getting Personal 284 The Southern Turn in the Ninth Century 290 Owning Red Cliff 302 Dongpos Red Cliff 315 A Storytellers Vision 325 The Reel Red Cliff 335 Conclusion 343 Epilogue. The Return of the Repressed 346 Appendix A. Cao Cads <€Short Songv 359 Appendix B. Red Cliff Poems 362 Appendix C. A Duel of Wits across the River between Two Army Counselors 371 Works Cited 425 Index 435 Acknowledgments I have been fortunate in having many wonderful colleagues and students whose probing questions and comments over the past decade have greatly enriched my research on this book. A very early version of part of chapter i was presented at the workshop organized by Wendy Swartz at Columbia University in 2010, and received extensive feedback from my discussant Meow Hui Goh. Parts of the chapter were also presented in lectures at Beijing University and Nanjing University in 2010, respectively hosted by Chen Pingyuan and Cheng Zhangcan. A Chinese version of the lectures appears in Zhongguo wenxue xuebao (1.2010). A portion of the material in chapter 2 was presented at the University of Colorado in 2012, and subse­ quently appears in an article, “Material and Symbolic Economies: Letters and Gifts in Early Medieval China,” in A History of Chinese Letters and Epistolary Culture edited by Antje Richter (Brill, 2015). An early version of chapter 3 was presented at Princeton University in 2012, and also at a lecture hosted by Paula Varsano at Berkeley in 20x3； it was later incorpo­ rated into an article, “Fan Writing: The Cultural Transactions between North and South from the Third through Sixth Century,M included in Southern Identity and Southern Estrangement in Medieval Chinese Poetry edited by Ping Wang and Nicholas Morrow Williams (Hong Kong University Press, 2015). I have presented on Three Kingdoms fan fiction at an AAS panel on “Three Kingdoms in East Asia” that I organized in 2014, and at workshops at Harvard University respectively organized by Lan T. Nguyen and Cuncun Wu in 2014 and 2015. The presentations were developed into an article, “Slashing "Three Kingdoms: A Case Study in Fan Production on the Chinese Web，” which received many comments from Kirk Denton and was printed in Modem Chinese Literature and Culture 27，no. 1 (2015). I am grateful to my fellow paper presenters, audi­ ences, hosts, editors, and anonymous readers for their critical insights. In addition to my regular sabbatical, an extra semester of leave from Harvard University in the fall of 2015 enabled me to finish the final draft of the book manuscript. For the precious gift of time, and for the Harvard Publications Fund for Tenured Faculty for coverage of the indexing cost， I thank William C. Kirby, Diana Sorensen, Robin E. Kelsey, and the late Jeremy R. Knowles, the former and current deans who generously supported scholarship in the arts and humanities at Harvard. I also wish to affectionately acknowledge the talented graduate students in the semi­ nars on Jian’an and Three Kingdoms in 2010，2012, and 2014, and the enthusiastic undergraduate students in the course “The Worlds of the Three Kingdoms” in the spring of 2013. A special note of thanks to Paul W. Kroll and Antje Richter for gener­ ously reading the entire manuscript and giving perceptive comments and corrections; to James Cheng and Ma Xiaohe at the Harvard-Yenching Library for offering invaluable research assistance; to Bob Graham at Harvard Asia Center Publications Program for warmly encouraging me to submit my manuscript; and, last but not least, to Kristen Wanner, for putting so much thought and care into making this book better. All imperfections that remain are mine. It is difficult to be a scholar, teacher, administrator, parent to a young child, and to write a book at the same time. I could never have done it without my family’s love and support. Thank you, Steve and George, for being sources of strength and joy in my life. I dedicate the book to George, who is a most vivacious reciter of Cao Caos e£Short Song” and shares my passion for the Three Kingdoms. —X.F.T. Note on Sources For early medieval Chinese poetry and prose citations, I use primarily Lu Qinlis 逐欽立（1910-73) Pre-Qin, Han, Wei, Jiny and Southern and Northern Dynasties Poetry QUan Qin Han Wei Jin nanbeichao shi 先秦漢 魏晉南北朝詩）and Yan Kejuns 嚴可均（1762-i843) Complete Prose of Antiquity, the Three Dynasties, Qin, Hany the Three Kingdoms, and the Six Dynasties {Quan shanggu sandai Qin Han sanguo liuchao wen 全上古三 代秦漢三國六朝文)，followed by modern annotated editions wherever necessary. These anthologies are divided into different volumes by dynas­ ties, such as Wei Poetry {Wei shi 魏詩）and Complete Jin Prose {Quan Jin wen 全晉文).In identifying the source of a text from Lu Qinli or Yan Kejuns anthologies, I shall not refer to the complete title but cite only the relevant volume title, followed hyjuan and page numbers (e.g., Lu Qinli, comp., Wei shi, 1.12). For Tang and Song poetry and prose citations, I use primarily Quan Tang shi 全唐詩 Quan Tang wen 全唐文，Quan Song shi ， 全宋詩，and Quan Song ci 全宋詞，supplemented whenever necessary with modern annotated editions.