Linqiong Yin

Linqiong, today called Qionglai, is a town about 50 miles southwest of Chengdu in Sichuan province. It is here that the famous poet Sima Xiangru is said to have seduced Zhuo Wenjun by playing the qin. Linqiong Yin occurs only in Xilutang Qintong, which makes it a prelude to #155 Feng Qiu Huang, and with no separate preface. Its introduction is here likewise combined with that melody.

In 2006 a conference took place in Qionglai in honor of the reputed meeting here of Sima Xiangru and Zhuo Wenjun.⁴

Original Preface

None: see Feng Qiu Huang.

Music (see transcription; timings follow my recording 聽錄音)
Three sections (untitled)

00.00 1.
00.39 2.
01.07 3.
01.44 harmonics
02.00 end

Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Linqiong Yin 臨邛引
30758.46 臨邛 mentions the connection between Linqiong and Sima Xiangru.
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2. Wumei Diao (無媒調)
From standard tuning lower the third and sixth strings (details).
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3. 邛崍 Qionglai
40150.9; Qionglai Shi (邛崍市), designated by the Chinese government as a City of Rich Cultural and Historical Heritage, is a city and district under the administration of the capital of Sichuan province, Chengdu. The center of Qionglai is about 70 km by road southwest from the center of Chengdu. Some maps still also use the old name for Qionglai, 臨邛 Linqiong, or 臨邛鎮 Linqiong town. About 10 miles southwest is 平樂古鎮 Pingle Old Town. Running west of these is the southern end of the 邛崍山 Qionglaishan Mountain Range (邛崍天台山 Qionglai Tiantaishan?). This range runs north for over 100 km, merging into the 岷山 Minshan range (See Qionglai-Minshan conifer forests.)
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4. Wenjun Well (文君井 Wenjun Jing)
Qionglai's Wenjun Well, shown above, is said to date from the Western Han dynasty, and local tourist brochures say that Sima Xiangru and Zhuo Wenjun used its water to make wine for their wineshop. It is part of a "Wenjun Garden....a key historical site under provincial protection....built in the style of the Suzhou and Hangzhou gardens....the place where Sima Xiangru and Zhuo Wenjun played guqin". The garden is intended to evoke the home of Wenjun's wealthy father, 卓王孫 Zhuo Wangsun (see the Shiji story), but there is no actual historical evidence connecting this place with events of such great antiquity. In honor of this event a "cultural festival" was held in Qionglai in 2006.

"Cultural Festival for the Guqin and Zhuo Wenjun", Qionglai and Chengdu, 2006,
The festival opened with a gala event in the Qionglai town square involving famous senior Chengdu qin master Wang Huade playing along with a recording of Meihua Sannong, accompanied by about 30 young players. This gala event also included pop songs about Wenjun and Sima Xiangru, minority song and dance, and a choral arrangement of a modern version of Feng Qiu Huang (which uses the lyrics of Wenjun Cao).

As mentioned here, in several of the performances at this festival I played both the 1539 Wenjun Cao and the 1525 suite of Lin Qiong Yin and Feng Qiu Huang. Other qin players seemed quite interested in these melodies, but in the many interviews I had, no reporter asked why I was the only person playing a melody relevant to the festival. It was always a variation of, "Why do you, a foreigner, play our guqin."
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