Li Qingzhao

Statue of Li Qingzhao in Li Qingzhao Memorial in Jinan

Li Qingzhao ( Chinese  李清照 , Pinyin Lǐ Qīngzhào , W.-G. Li Ch'ing-chao ; * 1084 ; † 1155 ?) Poet name Yì'ān Jūshì 易 安居士 or Lǐ Yì'ān, most famous classical poet and writer in China, lived during the Song Dynasty .

meaning

Li Qingzhao Memorial in Jinan

Li Qingzhao became famous for her Ci poems 詞, lyrical texts composed to certain melodies, also called " songs ". This includes a poetology of ci-lyric poetry first established by Li Qingzhao, the Cílùn 詞 論. Li Qingzhao is considered to be the finisher of the " female " school within Ci poetry, the Wǎnyuēpài 婉約 派, in contrast to the " male ", the Háofàngpài 豪放派, which goes back to Su Shi .

Li Qingzhao is particularly popular for her " Subsequent Foreword to the Catalog of Inscriptions on Bronze and Stone ", Jīnshílù Hòuxù 金石 錄 後 序, an autobiographical text in which she u. a. describes the first happy period of her marriage to Zhào Míngchéng 趙明誠. In doing so, she created an ideal image of a mutual, friendly relationship between married couples that continues to inspire today. This text is still read in schools today, in both the PRC and Taiwan.

Her second marriage and the letter in which she speaks about it, as well as her authorship of a number of Ci poems, are controversial.

biography

Qing period painting: Li Qingzhao on a stone

Li Qingzhao, born in Jinan , was the first child of the literary officer Lǐ Géfēi 李 格 非 (* ?; † after 1106, nickname Wénshū 文 叔) and a literary mother (surname Wáng 王). Li Qingzhao was taught like a son. Her father was friends with the famous poet Su Shi and many other influential poets and writers of his time.

In 1101, at the age of 18, she was married to Zhào Míngchéng 趙明誠 (* 1081; † 1129, nickname Défù 德 父), son of Zhào Tǐngzhī 趙 挺 之 (* 1040; † 1107). Zhao Mingcheng and Li Qingzhao shared an interest in literature, calligraphy, art and antiques. The couple initially lived in the then capital Kaifeng , then for years in the country, in Qingzhou, where Zhao Mingcheng's family had withdrawn. The marriage remained childless; it was overshadowed by the political power struggles in which Zhao Mingcheng's father was involved, so that Zhao Mingcheng was also unable to get an official post for a long time. Zhao Mingcheng and Li Qingzhao built up an extensive collection of books, pictures, objets d'art and antiques such as sacrificial vessels, tripods and other ceremonial implements over the years; Zhao Mingcheng wrote a " Catalog of Inscriptions on Bronze and Stone ", the Jinshilu, to which Li Qingzhao later wrote the famous Supplementary Foreword, the Houxu. In 1126, shortly before the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty, on a trip to the south, they had to leave most of their collection behind; in 1127 the house was reduced to rubble. Zhao Mingcheng died in 1129 while traveling to Huzhou, where he was to take up a new post. Li Qingzhao managed to get by with the remains of the collection to Hangzhou , where the Imperial Court of the Southern Song Dynasty resided.

In the summer of 1132, Li Qingzhao married Zhāng Rǔzhōu 張汝 舟, but filed for divorce three months later and also reported Zhang Ruzhou for embezzlement of state funds. Although Zhang Ruzhou was sentenced, so the allegation was well founded, Li Qingzhao was sentenced to two years in prison. She then turned to an influential relative of Zhao Mingcheng, Qí Chónglǐ 綦 崇礼 (* 1083, † 1142), who arranged for her release after she had been in prison for nine days, for help. In a letter of thanks to Qi Chongli she explained the matter in detail in the autumn of 1132. In 1134 she wrote a treatise on the " game of horses ", with a description and rules of a board game now lost with different game variants, as well as two playing fields and information on the placement of the figures , and with an autobiographical foreword. Around 1135 followed the Hòuxù das 序, the " Subsequent Foreword to the Catalog of Inscriptions on Bronze and Stone "; She later submitted both to the imperial court. In the following years she continued to write poems and congratulatory verses, which she submitted to the imperial court, at least until 1151. There is neither a grave nor an obituary. When and where she died is unknown.

From the end of the Song Dynasty to the 20th century, Li Qingzhao's second marriage was either not mentioned or denied. The letter was labeled a forgery written by their enemies or envious people to damage their reputation. However, there are at least seven independent sources from the Song era that mention Zhang Ruzhou's marriage, some from contemporaries of Li Qingzhao; the letter is transmitted in at least two sources. Today it is generally assumed that the second marriage took place.

plant

Only a small part of Li Qingzhao's work has survived. In the case of the letter to Qi Chongli and 30–50 Ci poems, her authorship is not considered to be certain. 79 Ci poems, 18 Shi poems, some with political content, a Fu poem, a few individual verses and fragments, and five prose texts are ascribed to her:

1. the Cílùn 《詞 論》, the poetics of Ci-lyric,
2. the letter to Qí Chónglǐ 綦 崇礼,
3. the Dámǎtújīng 《打 馬 圖 經》, the treatise on the " game of horses ",
4. the Dámǎtújīng Xù 《打 馬 圖 經 序》, the associated autobiographical preface, and
5. the Jīnshílù Hòuxù 《金石 錄 後 序》, the " Subsequent Foreword to the Catalog of Inscriptions on Bronze and Stone ".

The most important lyrical and several prosaic genres are represented in Li Qingzhao's extant oeuvre. The Ci poems are aesthetically and technically sophisticated masterpieces. The prose texts are in the literary tradition of the poets, they are perfectly shaped texts, illustrated by many, often rare, quotations and allusions to classical literature.

Others

Excerpt from one of her most famous Ci poems:

尋 尋覓 覓 Xúnxún mìmì,
冷冷清清 Lěnglěng qīngqīng,
凄凄 惨惨 戚戚 Qīqī cǎncǎn qīqī。

Search, seek, strive, strive / cold, cold, clear, clear / lonely, lonely, miserable, miserable, sad, sad.
I search and search, / I feel and feel, / everything is cold and empty.

It is the beginning of the poem Shengshengman . This poem entrance is very famous, u. a. because every character appearing in the three lines occurs twice.

The Li Ch'ing Chao crater on the planet Venus is named after her.

Editions and translations

• Chinese woman poetry. Tzi lyrics from the Sung period by Li Tsching-dschau and Dschu Schu-dschen . Ed. U. in Dt. transfer by Ernst Schwarz. dtv, Munich 1985. (rhymed adaptations)
• Li Qing Zhao: Poems . Inlet u. Translated by Ng Hong-chiok u. Anne Engelhardt. Self-published, Bonn 1985.
• Dorothee Dauber: Cut jade. On the myth of the song poet Li Qingzhao (1084 - 1155?) . Lang, Frankfurt am Main (et al.) 2000. (With interlinear versions of the translated ci poems, annotated translations of the Cilun, the Houxu and the controversial letter, as well as detailed information on the numerous different transcriptions and adaptations of their poems and prose.)

Settings

• Kalevi Aho : Kiinalaisia ​​lauluja ( Chinese songs ; texts: Li Qingzhao / 李清照 Lǐ Qīngzhào in Finnish adaptation by Pertti Nieminen ), World Premiere : November 26, 1997

literature

• Barbara Beuys : The price of passion. China's big time. The Dramatic Lives of Li Qingzhao . Hanser, Munich 2004. (Despite the title, not a novel, but the biography of a non-sinologist)

proof

1. ↑ A translation in Dauber (2000, pp. 89–94).
2. ^ Dauber (2000, p. 10). Li Qingzhao is also assigned a literary style of its own, the Yi'an style, 易 安 体.
3. ↑ A translation in Dauber (2000, pp. 256–272).
4. ↑ See his biography in the Songshi, History of the Song Dynasty.
5. ↑ The song-time historian Li Xinchuan mentions Zhang Ruzhou's complaint by his wife, with the family name Li and daughter Li Gefeis, Zhang Ruzhou's trial, his prison sentence and subsequent demotion. Dauber (2000, p. 55).
6. ^ First translation into a European language by Dauber (2000, pp. 234–243), with the exception of a few sentences, reproduced accordingly by Chantal Chen ( Les Poèmes Ci de Li Qingzhao , 1972, p. 234, note 1).
7. ↑ As recently as 1155, Li Qingzhao is said to have offered a young girl to become her student, but the girl replied: Literary education is not a woman's business. For example, in the later epitaph that the song poet Lù Yóu 陸游 (1125-1210) wrote for this woman who was a relative of his. Dauber (2000, p. 58).
8. ↑ For the biography s. Dauber (2000, pp. 38-60).
9. ^ Dauber (2000, pp. 54f).
10. ^ Dauber (2000, p. 232).
11. ^ Dauber (2000, p. 61ff).
12. ↑ LQJ , Shanghai 1962, p. 31.
13. ↑ Interlinear translation Dauber (2000, p. 189).
14. ^ Translation by Ng Hong-chiok and Anne Engelhardt (1985, p. 81).
15. ↑ [1]  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

Web links

Commons : Li Qingzhao  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• The Complete Ci-poems of Li Qingzhao (www.sino-platonic.org)
• The poet Li Qingzhao (China Today)
• Barbara Beuys: The price of passion
• The Dramatic Life of Li Qingzhao " ( Deutschlandfunk )
• Glance into distant high culture ( Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung )