Xilutang Qintong (1525), which often pairs short and long melodies, uses Xiuxi Yin as a prelude to #4 Yang Chun. There seems to be a more natural connection with #12 Liu Shang⁴. The afterword to Liu Shang in Xilutang Qintong connects that melody with a xiuxi, both melodies are in the gong mode, and the music of Xiuxi Yin sounds very appropriate as a prelude to Liu Shang. However, neither Xilutang Qintong or any later handbook ever mentions this connection between the two.

Liu Shang, which is not paired, is in fact a version of the popular melody elsewhere entitled Jiu Kuang⁵.

This pairing of Xiuxi Yin and Yang Chun is also appropriate, as a xiuxi was generally a spring event. On the other hand, the afterword to Yang Chun does not mention a xiuxi. Instead it gives the conventional origin of Yang Chun Bai Xue (Bright Spring, White Snow). The version of Yang Chun in Shen Qi Mi Pu has the same explanation, but the two versions of Yang Chun are musically unrelated.

A xiuxi was a ceremony in which (usually on the 3^rd day of the 3^rd lunar month) scholars would relax along a stream as wine-laden goblets floated by; if a goblet stopped in front of a scholar he had to compose an appropriate poem or drink from the goblet.

A xiuxi which took place at Kuaiji mountain's hidden Orchid Pavilion a few miles south of modern Shaoxing at the beginning of spring of the year 353 was immortalized by the famous calligrapher Wang Xizhi.⁶ The calligraphy of his Preface to the Lanting Poem Collection was the most famous historical (if authentic) and influential (whether or not authentic) example of Chinese calligraphy.⁷

Xiuxi Yin occurs in eight more handbooks after 1525⁸, but none has an appended explanation. Qin Shi Bu #24 attributes it to Liu Juanzi.

 
Original preface

None; because Xiuxi Yin serves as a prelude to Yang Chun it should share the same preface

 
Music
Three sections (untitled); timing follows my recording 聽錄音
(Note: for some reason the third note of the melody has been cut from the recording)

00.00   1.
00.38   2. (harmonics)
00.54   3.
01.34       harmonics
01.55       end

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Xiuxi Yin 修禊吟
805.226 Xiuxi: The people of ancient times had a custom whereby during the first third of the third month according to the agricultural calendar [after the Wei dynasty of the Warring Kingdoms it became fixed on the third day of the third month] they would go play/sport by waters' edge in order to eliminate anything inauspicious.
(修禊﹕古代民俗于農歷三月上旬的已日（三國魏以後始定為三月初三）到水邊嬉戲以撥除不祥。)
Zhongwen Dacidian also says that by the Song dynasty there are references to doing the same thing in the seventh month of the agricultural calendar. (See also the event described in an essay by Shi Chong.)
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2. Gong mode (宮調 Gong diao)
For more on gong mode see Shenpin Gong Yi and Modality in Early Ming Qin Tablature.
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3. Observing a Xiuxi (also see Liu Shang in Art Illustrating Guqin Melodies)

彈琴

The image above is a segment from the 唐岱、丁觀鵬，清院本十二令圖軸之三月 Third Month illustration in a set of Qing dynasty imperial illustrations of the 12 lunar months, by Tang Dai and Ding Guanpeng. The originals are in the National Palace Museum, Taipei. All 12 images can be found on many websites. Select the image at right for a closeup of the window showing the qin player.
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4. Liu Shang 流觴 (also 曲水流觴 Qushui Liushang)
17762.316 流觴 describes the custom associated with the Xiuxi festival, but has nothing about music. For this see the melody Liu Shang
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5. Jiu Kuang
40655.70 酒狂 mentions drunken madness in Han Shu and Bo Juyi, but nothing on music.
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6. Wang Xizhi (王羲之). For orchids see Guqin and Orchids
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7. Wang Xizhi's Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Collection (蘭亭集序 Lantingji Xu)
Apparently also called 蘭亭詩記 Lantingshi Ji, this describes the famous xiuxi that took place there in 353 CE. There are a number of translations. The one by H.C. Chang in Classical Chinese Literature, Vol.I (Columbia and Chinese University Presses, 2000; p.479ff) includes excerpts from the poems by seven of the 41 attending poets.
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8. In 1614, 1647, 1692, 1673, 1689, 1692, 1722 and 1876 (=1673)
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Return to the annotated handbook list or to the Guqin ToC.