Records of the Jiaofang 教坊記: translation pt. 3 of 4

Whenever the two Houses below the pavilion (?) recruit various women, the Emperor always calls the girls of the Inner Ladies inside [the palace], and gives them food. The Emperor says [to the newly recruits], “today you my ladies don’t have to sing, we will just make your sisters and the women from the two Houses [sing].” Thus the Inner Ladies and the women from the two Houses take turns going up on the stage to sing. When the Inner Ladies sing, Huang Fanzhuo will praise them. When the women from the two Houses sing, then Fanzhuo often reprehends them. He calls the chubby older girls “ugly old gal” (屈突干阿姑), and calls the ones who look a little non-Han “Sister Kang Taibing” (康太賓阿妹), nicknaming each stereotype at will, facetious in many ways. The many musicians of the motley music call the Emperor “Master Cliff” (崖公), and when the Emperor is in a good mood, it is called “xian-dou” 蜆斗,and those who often attend to His Majesty daily are called “chang-ru” 長入.

The acrobat Pei Cheng’en has a younger sister called Madame (大娘), who is good at singing. Her brother married her to the stilt-walker Hou, yet she also had a secret affair with the chang-ru Zhao Jiechou. Hou fell to sickness, and Madame Pei wanted to kill him by drugging. Wang Fuguo and Zhen Xianshan were good friends with Zhao, and they were also townspeople with Hou. They spoke to Xue Zhong and Wang Yan in secret, “Tell Brother Hou for me: at night someone will be bringing porridge; be careful not to eat it.” When the time came, indeed someone brought him porridge, and Hou did not eat it. That night, Madame Pei led Jiechou to murder her husband, and Xianshan offered to hold up the dirt sack. When the light went out, Xianshan put the dirt sack on top of Hou, yet did not cover his mouth and nose, and the rest of his colluders did not detect that. The next day, Hou did not die, and the people in charge heard of this. The Emperor ordered Fan Anji investigate this matter at length, thus Zhao Jiechou et al were sentenced to one hundred floggings.

Everyone else did not know that it was because Hou’s mouth and nose were not covered that he did not die. Some people said that the dirt sack burst open and that was why Hou lived. Thus the girls joked with one another, saying, “Girls! From now on, when we sew dirt sacks to kill our husbands, we should pay special attention to sew up the hems, so that it wouldn’t split open.” 

Among the various girls in the Jiaofang, those who have similar interests would swear a pact to be “incense brothers” (香火兄弟). The bigger pacts will have fourteen or fifteen people; the smaller ones are no fewer than eight or nine. The men who have asked them in marriage will be addressed in female terms: if the man is younger, then he will be called the “new bride” (新婦); if older, then he will be called the “elder sister-in-law” (嫂). If the man serves in court as an official, then he will see the Inner Ladies and serve in court on the same day. Upon reaching the inner gate, when their carriages meet, and if they lift up the carriage curtain and were addressed as “elder sister-in-law” or “new bride,” their friends who did not know this will think it quite strange and ask those addressed as such, but they would smile and not answer. When a man marries one of the Inner Ladies, her “incense brothers” would go tell one another, speaking of learning the ways of the Turks. Furthermore they say, “We brothers all dote on one another, and we want to have a little taste of the ‘bride’.” Even if the Inner Lady knows of this, she would not be jealous, and her “incense brothers” would not commit adultery. 

The wife of Su Wunu is named Zhang Shaoniang. She is good at singing and dancing, and is also very beautiful, and can perform “Verse-Stepping Girl” 踏謠娘.If someone invites her out, Wunu will then follow along. When people want to get her drunk fast, and frequently ask her to drink, Wunu says, “Just give me more money, and she will be drunk even if she just was eating cake. Do not bother with wine.” Now that we call those who sell out their wives “Wunu”五奴, and it begins with Su.

Big Madame is the daughter of Fan Han, and she is also a stilts walker. She was released from the inner palace in the 21^st year of Kaiyuan. She is alluring in her beauty, but she has a mild case of body odor. 

Records of the Jiaofang 教坊記：translation pt. 2 of 4

In the Western Capital [Chang’an], the Right Jiaofang is located in the Guangzhai Ward 光宅坊, and the Left Jiaofang is located in the Yanzheng Ward 延政坊 [aka 长乐坊]. The Right Jiaofang mostly excels at singing, and the Left Jiaofang mostly excels at dancing, so after a while this became a tradition. In the Eastern Capital [Luoyang], the two Jiaofangs were both located in the Mingyi Ward 明義坊, and the Right one is to the south, the Left one to the north, or east of the garden. Between the two [Jiaofangs] there is a body of water about one qing or so (approximately 6.7 hectares), nicknamed Moon Pond. Its shape resembles a crescent moon, thus it is named so. 

Entertainer girls who are enrolled in the Yichun House 宜春院 are called “Inner Ladies” 內人, also known as “Front-row Ladies” 前頭人 because they often perform right in front of the Emperor. Their families are also in the Jiaofang, called “Inner Ladies Households” 內人家 and are given rice all year round. Of those who received the Emperor’s favor, they are called the “Ten Households” 十家. They received housing, and their bestowals are no different [from others]. In the beginning, there were ten households who were particularly favored by the Emperor. Those who followed after were decreed official titles, and their bestowal was the same as the [original] “Ten Households.” Even though they numbered over ten but are still called “Ten Households.” On the second and the sixteenth of every month, the mothers of the Inner Ladies get to see their daughters. Those who do not have mothers get to see one of their sisters or aunts. The Ten Households stay in their own residences, while the rest of the Inner Ladies sit side by side in the Inner Jiaofang to see [their families]. On their birthdays, the Inner Ladies are allowed to see their mothers, aunts, and sisters, and the way they are received is as stated before.

When [the girls] leave the pavilion to put on a performance, if the Yichun House is understaffed, then they will add [girls] from Yunshao House 雲韶. [Girls] from Yunshao are called “Palace Ladies” 宮人, and were entertainers of a lower status. Not only do they differ in their physical appearance, but the jade pendants that they wear are also conspicuous and easily discernible. Inner Ladies wear fish-shaped pendants, and Palace Ladies do not. Daughters from common families are selected based on beauty and taken into the inner palace, and taught how to play the pipa, the sanxian [three-stringed lute], konghou-harp, zheng, etc. They are called “Plucking Lutists” 搊彈家.

In the eleventh year of Kaiyuan [723], [the Emperor] first composed “Divine Longevity Music” 聖壽樂. The various ladies were asked to dress in colored robes of the Five Dhyani Buddhas, and danced to it with singing. The ladies from Yichun House were capable of dancing in court after only one day of instruction, but the Plucking Lutists still could not after a full month. By the day of the performance, the Emperor himself encouraged them in person: “Play well and do not embarrass me [the Third Son].” [He] put the ladies from Yichun House at the beginning and end of the [dance line], the Plucking Lutists in the middle of the line, and made them learn how to raise their arms [for the dance]. In the Yichun House too there were better and worse dancers; the good dancers were picked to be at the head and tail of the dance line. The head dancers lead in the line, and all eyes are on them, thus they must be skilled dancers. When the music is about to end, about twenty dancers or so will slightly fall behind [the music]. When the music ends, the coda is called “Closing Off” 合殺, and it is especially swift, hence [the end of the line] in particular needs skilled dancers. 

For the “Divine Longevity Music” dance, on each dancer’s lapel is a big patch of embroidery, in the original color of the lapel. Then make a robe of pure white silk, the end just reaching the [lower] sash. [The robe] will cover them up like a short frock, and the embroidery will be concealed. When the dancers first come out [on stage], then followed by musicians, all dancing in white silk robes. In the second refrain, [the dancers] meet up in the middle of the stage, amidst the crowd [the dancers] immediately pull off the covering frock overhead and hide it in their bosoms. The audience suddenly sees the girls glistening in beautiful embroidery, and everyone will be awed. 

Whenever [the dancers] are about to put on a performance, the person in charge first proposes the names of the tunes. The ones that receive the Emperor’s marking with ink get performed. The ones not marked are not performed. This is called “Proposal Marking” 進點. On the day of the performance, the Inner Ladies will come out to dance. The [rest of the] Jiaofang Ladies only get to dance “Yinzhou” 伊州 and “Five Days” 五天 over and over again. Their repertoire does not extend beyond these two songs, and the rest are danced by Inner Ladies. “Drooping Arms Gauze” 垂手羅, “Returning Waves Music” 回波樂,“King of Lanling” 蘭陵王, “Warbling of the Spring Oriels” 春鶯囀, “Ban Shequ” 半社渠,“Borrowing the Mat” 借席, “Crow Crying at Night” 烏夜啼 and the like, are called “Soft Dances” 軟舞. “A-Liao” 阿遼, “Tuozhi” 柘枝, “Yellow Musk Deer” 黃麞, “Swaying Forest” 拂林, “Daweizhou” 大渭州, “Dharma Song” 達摩支 and the like are called “Swift Dances” 健舞. If drums are played atop the boxcar, then it is either “Tuozhi” or “A-Liao.”