Youlan Grass: the Duration for its Composition and Collectingand its Value Judgment

The Ming Dynasty block-printed edition of Youlan Grass (orchid) is the first collection of ci-poetry by the Yunjian Ci School. With high documentary value, it marks the founding of the School, becoming the first-hand material to study the early compositions and theoretical ideas of the school. (1) The duration of the composition and collecting of Youlan Grass. The period from 1634 to 1637 can be pinpointed judging by the contacts between Chen Zilong, Li Wen and Song Zhengyu, known as the ″three gentlemen of Yunjian Ci School″. For this ci composition is mainly based on the joint work of the three, who were presumably with each other most frequently during that period of their lifetime.The said duration can also be confirmed by the way Song Zhengyu edited the ci collection. As all the ci poems in the collection were arranged chronologically, it is basically clear that the duration started in the autumn of 1633 and ended in the autumn or winter of 1636. Therefore, it is roughly in 1637 when the collection and printing of Youlan Grass was done. (2) The value judgment of Youlan Grass. Based on the comments and poems, the two parts of the collection, which represent the theoretical views and practice of ci-composition of the Yunjian Ci School headed by Chen Zilong, he holds that the ci poetry of the Southern Tang Dynasty (937—975) and the Northern Song Dynasty (960—1127) represents the supreme achievement of all ci-poetry throughout the age, while the ci-poetry of the Yuan and Ming dynasties was on the decline. Furthermore, the three gentlemen of the school shared the same views on ci-poetry, which serve as the guideline for their writing practice. They also shared the following features: the subject matter, which is about a love story, natural objects, or seasons; the repeated use of emotive words and fixed imagery; and the preferred employment of a style of poetry called short tonal poems (xiaoling). That is why many pieces of Ming ci-poetry collected in Youlan Grass, which best represent the original features of the ci-poetry of the Southern Tang and Northern Song dynasties, highlight a substantial difference from other Ming poems.Youlan Grass both symbolizes a qualitative change that occurred in composing ci-poetry during the late Ming Dynasty and marks a brilliant start to bring ci-poetry composition back to the original.