Love in Different Forms: Verses for Wives vs. Songs for Concubines and Courtesans in Ancient Chinese Poetry

In ancient China, poets sometimes wrote poems to their wives and about other women, such as concubines or courtesans, with whom they had relationships. The poems they wrote to their wives were generally very different from those about concubines or singing girls with whom they had affairs. In this article, we translated four poems spanning a couple of hundred years that clearly represent such differences.

夜雨寄北 Mailing a Letter to the North during Night Rain

李商隐    Author: Li Shangyin, 9th century

君问归期未有期，you ask return time no have time
巴山夜雨涨秋池。Ba mountain night rain rise/swell autumn pond
何当共剪西窗烛，when should together cut with scissor west window candle
却话巴山夜雨时    but talk Ba mountain night rain time

Translation:

You ask when I’ll return, but I don’t know what to tell you.
Here in Ba mountain, the night rains are swelling the autumn ponds.
Oh, when will we sit by the west window and trim the candle
While we talk about this rainy Ba mountain night?

寄内  Send to my Wife

孔仲平  Author: Kong zhongping, 11th century

试说途中景，try talk way in scenery
方知别后心。not until know parting after heart/feeling
行人日暮少，walking person sun evening/dust few
风雪乱山深。wind snow chaos mountain deep

Translation:

I try to put into words what the land is like here.
I didn’t understand until I left you how hard this would be.
Few travelers are left when the sun goes down.
Deep within this lawless mountain, there’s only wind and snow.

行次寿州寄内  Send to my Wife when Arriving at the Shou Province

欧阳修      Author: Ou Yangxiu, 11th century

紫金山下水长流，Zi Jin mountain under water long flow
尝记当年此共游。once remember in those year this place together travel
今夜南风吹客梦，today night south wind blow guest dream
清淮明月照孤舟。clear Huai bright moon shine lonely boat.

Translation:

Beneath Zi Jin mountain, the ever flowing river,
Do you remember when we came here long ago?
Tonight the south wind blows in this traveler’s dream
And a bright moon over the clear Huai river shines on a lonely boat.

对酒  Drinking wine with others
作者：李白    Author: Li Bai, 8th century

蒲萄酒，grape wine
金叵罗，gold wine cup
吴姬十五细马驮。Wu young girl 15 thin horse carry on horseback
青黛画眉红锦靴，green dye decorate eyebrow red brocade shoes/boots
道字不正娇唱歌。talk word not straight, upright tender sing song
玳瑁筵中怀里醉，gemstone tortoise shell feast in bosom inside drunk
芙蓉帐底奈君何!   lotus bed curtain inside helpless you how

Translation:

A golden cup
Holds wine made from grapes.
And a little horse carries
A Wu nation beauty
Just 15 years old.

Her eyebrows are dyed black.
Her boots are red brocade.
Her dialect is hard to understand,
But her singing is so alluring.

We feasted on fine tables
Inlaid with tortoise shell
And she grew drunk within my arms.
Now she is helpless inside the lotus bed curtains.
Little Miss, whatever should I do with you?

Translation notes:

The first three poems were all written by poets during the Tang and Song dynasties to their wives. The first one was written by Li Shangyin, a famous poet during the late Tang dynasty. Li was in today’s Sichuan Province, serving as the governor’s advisor when he wrote this poem. The poem was written after Li Shangyin’s wife died, but it is possible that he had not received word of her death yet. It is also possible that he knew of her death, but chose to express his grief in a longing, imaginary letter to her. It is extremely unlikely that this could be a poem to a mistress or ‘blue building’ lady because, although it was common for married men to write about women other than their wives, such poems emphasize the woman’s beauty and sometimes her loneliness. They do not describe peaceful domestic scenes, and they usually wouldn’t address the woman with the highly respectful ‘君’.

The term “Ba Mountain” reflects the fact that the mountain was in what once had been the Ba kingdom. The archaic term “Ba Mountain” gives the poem a sense of temporal depth, as if Shangyin were telling an ancient story. The terms “Chu Nation” and “Wu Nation” are also used quite often in classical Chinese poems. Chu and Wu are the names of ancient kingdoms, but are used as geographical references, e.g. the Chu Nation was in the southern part of China, so poets write that they are going to the Chu Nation when they travel south. Again, the use of these literary terms links the poems to a long literary tradition and imbues the work with a sense of timelessness.

The second poem was written by Kong Zhongping, a poet during the Northern Song dynasty. He composed this poem when he was banished from court and demoted to a provincial government position in the south. Kong wrote it to his wife on his journey south. The third poem was written by Ou Yangxiu, also a poet during the Northern Song dynasty. Ou was traveling alone and reminisced about the good times when he and his wife travelled together. These two poems clearly show that both poets treated their wives as intimate relatives whom they respected, shared their feelings with, and saw as someone who could provide a shoulder to cry on.

The last poem in this article, written by Li Bai, one of the greatest poets of the Tang dynasty, partly admires the beauty and exotic nature of a courtesan or singing girl with whom he had an affair. The term “grape wine,” which might seem redundant to a Westerner, signifies an exotic, foreign wine made from grapes rather than the Chinese wines made from more readily available domestic crops. The entire poem bespeaks sophistication and luxury. A tortoise shell feast is an extravagant feast, and a beautiful girl dressed in finery is an expensive purchase. A Wu nation beauty who speaks with an accent is a girl from the south who, though Chinese, would be exotic to Li Bai. From the context of the poem, it is most likely that the young girl is a courtesan or singing girl who has been entertaining guests (including Li Bai) during the feast. Like the grape wine, she is a testament to his ability to sample rare and fine pleasures.

From these four poems, readers can clearly sense the differences in how poets wrote to their wives compared to their concubines or courtesans. When ancient Chinese poets admired a woman’s beauty in their poems, it was usually not their wives but their concubines or courtesans with whom they had affairs. As most ancient Chinese poets came from the educated upper class, they typically married women of similar rank. Objectifying their wives in poems was politically inconvenient, as these women brought social resources and typically had influential families behind them. In contrast, ancient Chinese poets often objectified concubines or courtesans, admiring their beauty and sometimes even boasting about their affairs with these women. In the final line of the fourth poem, we translated the highly respectful ‘君’ as ‘Little Miss’. Normally, it is used as a serious term of respect, as seen in Li Shangyin’s poem to his wife. In this context, we took it as ironic.