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.