Nanxun Ge

This piece, attributed to the famous filial Emperor Shun (or Yu Shun, said to have lived 2317-2208 BC), uses only strings one to five. This follows on the ancient story, as found in the Records of the Grand Historian and quoted in the preface below, that Emperor Shun played a five string qin.³ According to this tradition, the sixth and seventh strings were added by Wen Wang and Wu Wang.

Many early handbooks have one or two such five-string melodies,⁴ and at least 19 up to 1840 had one titled either Nan Xun Ge (as here), Nan Feng Ge (Song of Southern Winds) or Nanfeng Chang⁵ (Rhapsody of Southern Winds). However, the only one with a melody related to the one here is the Nan Xun in Longhu Qinpu (1571), which has almost identical lyrics as well.⁶

Comforting southern breezes are by tradition contrasted with those of the north, which are killing and those of the west, which bring war; those of the east are nourishing. Many poems mention this, including one by the famous Tang poet Wang Wei.⁷ The lyrics here quote from some of these.⁸

Zheyin Shizi Qinpu preface ⁹

The Beyond-Sounds Immortal says

as for this melody, it originated with Yu Shun and later people added to it. The Royal Ancestor's Handbook doesn't have this melody. According to what the Records of the Grand Historian says,

"Shun Played a five-string qin, sang a poem of the Southern Breezes, and all under heaven was regulated. "

A poem (Nanfeng Ge in Kongzi Jiayu),¹⁰ says,

"Winds from the south are temperate breezes,
They can be used to resolve my people's irritations.
Winds from the south are timely,
They can be used to make abundant my people's wealth."

Ah! This was a great society!

Music
10 titled sections, lyrics throuhout ¹¹

00.00 1. The southern (breezes) arrive in accord with the natural seasonal rhythm
00.00 2. Refreshing (breezes) come to the palace halls
01.34 3. (Everything on) heaven and earth (enjoys) virtue and grace
02.00 4. The common people can carry on their natural life cycles
02.24 5. Great prosperity resolves indignancies
02.46 6. (Shun) copies the old (style of Yao), making it current in his own day
03.17 Closing harmonics
03.41 End

Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Southern Breeze references
2798.750 Nan Xun says it is a 詩歌名 poetic song name and gives several poetic references. See also 2798.340 南風 nan feng, which gives a long introduction and quotes numerous sources including 爾雅 Er Ya, 後漢書 Hou Han Shu, 梁簡文帝 Emperor Jianwen of Liang, 孫逖 Sun Ti (8th c.), 禮記，樂記 Annals of Music in the Book of Rites, 尸子，綽子 Shizi: Chuozi (by 尸佼 Shi Jiao of the Warring States period), 孔子家語 Kongzi Jiayu, 樂府詩集 Yuefu Shi and 琴操 Qin Cao. Further details are also given in the introduction to Nanfeng Ge, which quotes lyrics published in 樂府詩集 Yuefu Shiji.
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2. Tuning and mode
Only the first five strings are used. Standard tuning is also considered as 5 6 1 2 3 (5 6). For information about zhi mode see Shenpin Zhi Yi. For modes in general see Modality in Early Ming Qin Tablature.
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3. Appropriate image not yet found.
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4. Nan Feng Ge in Shi Ji
The full original passage connected to Nan Feng Ge, from Chapter 24 (樂書 Music Annals) of the Shi Ji (史記 Records of the Grand Historian), is quoted below. (See also 262.783; neither quote is precisely as here.) Nan Feng Ge in Taigu Yiyin does not have this passage, though an extract is quoted in the Yuefu Shiji introduction to its Nan Feng Ge lyrics. The attitude conveyed by the Shi Ji is that during orderly times people are happy and music is appropriate to them.

Whatever musical sounds originate in the human mind have their corresponding sounds connected to man in the cosmos; (the relationship is) like that of a shadow to its solid form, or an echo to the original sound. Thus in happy times heaven rewards people with wealth, while during bad times heaven gives them calamity. This is natural.

Thus, when Shun played the five string qin and sang the lyrics of Southern Breezes, the world was orderly....(Translation not completed. The rest of this passage constrasts the music of Shun with that of the corrupt 紂辛 Zhou Xin.)

凡音由於人心，天之與人有以相通。如景之象形，響之應聲。故為喜者天報之以福，為惡者天與之以殃。其自然者也。

故舜彈五絃之琴，歌南風之詩，而天下治。紂為朝歌北鄙之音，身死國亡。舜之道何弘也？紂之道何隘也？夫南風之詩者生長之音也，舜樂好之，樂與天地同意，得萬國之驩心，故天下治也。夫朝歌者不時也，北者敗也，鄙者陋也，紂樂好之，與萬國殊心，諸侯不附，百性不親，天下畔之，故身死國亡。

The Shi Ji passage then illustrates this with a story involving Shi Kuang.
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5. See Qin melodies that use only 5 strings. (Return)

6. Melodies on a southern breeze or wind
The Zha Guide entries 南熏歌 Nan Xun Ge, 南風歌 Nan Feng Ge and 南風暢; Nan Feng Chang are analyzed in a footnote to Nan Feng Ge. Note that the Chinese does not indicate singular or plural.
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7. 龍湖琴譜 Longhu Qinpu was not available to Zha Fuxi when he did his Guide. It is published in Tong Kin-Woon's 琴府 Qin Fu.
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8. Lyrics
See below. I have not yet traced the source of many of these Zheyin Shizi Qinpu lyrics.
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9. Original preface
For the original Chinese text of the preface see 南熏歌.
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10. 孔子家語 Kongzi Jiayu
This is a post-Han collection of stories. The four lines (two doubled lines) of the poem are very similar to the last four lines of the Yuefu Shiji lyrics as found at the end of Nan Feng Ge.
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11. Original section titles and lyrics
For the Chinese section titles see 南熏歌. The Chinese lyrics begin as follows,

1. 應候南來
濃陰轉綠槐，薰風拂拂，一味南來。清和遍滿你那天垓，煩襟於以消滌；飄飄解溫，於以阜財。。。。

The rest is not yet online, but see this .pdf file (from Zha Guide [713] 189).
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