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Mao Praised the Elegiac Couplet

In the afternoon of January 10， 1972， Mao Zedong came to the funeral of Marshal Chen Yi， his comrade for about fifty years. Entering the funeral hall， Mao walked slowly， glancing at elegiac couplets. He stopped at a floral wreath and read the elegiac couplet carefully in his Hunan dialect. He nodded and praised the literary excellence of the couplet. Seeing the name of Zhang Boju (a prominent antique collector and connoisseur)， Mao asked Chen Yi’s wife Zhang Qian if Chen had been familiar with Zhang Boju. Zhang Qian briefly explained how her late husband had appreciated Zhang for his versatile knowledge and how Zhang had been stripped of his work and permanent residence registration merely for a poem he wrote to express his discontent with Lin Biao， who had just died in a plane crash after an aborted coup in September， 1971. Mao seemed speechless in the twinkling of an eye and then said to Premier Zhou Enlai， “I believe a talent like Mr. Zhang Boju deserves a way out. At least people like him should have a job. You are premier and you find him a job.” With arrangements made by Premier Zhou， Zhang became a researcher at the Central Research Institute of Culture and History， which ensured him employment and residence registration.

General and Soldier

General Chen Geng was leading his giant army sweeping down from north into Guangxi and Guangdong in the south of China in 1949 when the People’s Liberation Army was winning the Civil War (1946-1949). It was during one of those battle days that a soldier in the general’s 15th Army applied to quit the army to inherit a fortune in Hong Kong. The soldier’s willingness to accept the heritage caused a huge stir among his comrades in arms. Some accused him of being a fallen guy corrupted by rotten capitalist ideology and some even proposed that the soldier face a shooting squad. When the general learned about the soldier and his request， he ordered to let the soldier go. Many comrades-in-arms were completely puzzled by the general’s instruction. Chen Geng explained， “Let him go and we will surely have an overseas voice speaking in our interest some day.” As expected， the ex-soldier became a prominent pro-China leader of the Chinese community in San Francisco years later.

Emperor Dreaded Prime Minister

Han Xiu was a prime minister working under Emperor Xuanzong (685-762) of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) in the early days of the emperor’s 44-year reign. Though the emperor ruled wisely and created the most prosperous and powerful period of the dynasty， the emperor feared the prime minister for his criticism whenever the emperor was found abandoning himself to misdeeds. So whenever the emperor deviated， he would ask his attendants dreadfully， “Does Han Xiu the bastard know what I did?” It turned out the prime minister would always find out the emperor’s capricious misdeed and dutifully submit an expostulation in writing to the emperor， advising the ruler politely but resolutely to stay away from such misdeeds. This kind of criticism always spoiled the emperor’s delight in the things he enjoyed doing.

One day， a close attendant suggested that the emperor get rid of the prime minister， saying， “Your majesty is losing weight since Han Xiu became prime minister. Who does he think he is? In the final analysis， who is Emperor? Your majesty will feel much happier if Han Xiu is removed.” The emperor sighed heavily. “I am thinner but I known my subjects under the heaven are putting on weight. Han Xiu is working for my dynasty， not for me. If he worked for me， I would have had him executed a long time ago. I don’t need you to babble about getting rid of him!”

Title of Emperor

After putting the warring states to an end and the whole country came under his unified rule in 221 B.C.， Ying Zheng， king of the Qin State， convinced himself that the three kings (皇) and five emperors (帝) in the past， legendary or real， paled in comparison with him for peerless historical feat， significance， prestige and virtue. He believed that 皇 or 帝 was a title below him. He decided to create a fitting title for himself by putting 皇 and 帝 together. That was how he became China’s very first 皇帝. So， etymologically， 皇帝 in Chinese cannot be said to be an exact equivalent of emperor in English.

All the rulers of the subsequent Chinese dynasties admired the first emperor for his ingenuity in creating the title. They all honored themselves with the first emperor’s unique invention. The title of 皇帝 was in use for more than 2，000 years until Xuantong， the last emperorof the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Some Royal Gardens

China’s earliest royal garden is probably Ling You， which belonged to the King Wen of the Western Zhou Dynasty (C.1100-771 B.C.) and the first family. Inside the garden were a platform about 6 meters in height and 100 steps in circumference and a pond， among other pleasurable facilities. The garden with a platform and a pond， though quite primitive if compared with gardens in subsequent dynasties， established a formula for subsequent royal gardens in China.

Kings saw royal gardens as a status symbol by during the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period (475-221 B.C.). When they came to power， they would have gardens and palaces built. Fu Cha was king of the Wu Kingdom and a hegemonic ruler during the Spring and Autumn period. Discontented with the previous Garden of Phoenix Trees， he ordered to have a large garden built. It took conscripted laborers from four corners of the kingdom three years to build the garden. Measured 2，500 meters in circumference， the Gusu Garden was large enough for the king and his thousands of concubines to revel in wining and dining， singing and dancing day and night.

The First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty (221-206 B.C.) expanded the frontal hall of the E Pang Palace. After the expansion， the hall measured 500 steps from west to east and 150 meters from north to south， large enough to house 10，000 people at the same time. The first emperor also had 270 imperial living quarters built 100 kilometers away from the capital， all connected with paved paths. He indulged in dissipation among his palaces and gardens. When Xiang Yu came to the fallen capital， he set fire on the palaces. The fire lasted three months before all the palaces burned down.

Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-24 A.D.) had Jianzhang Palace and Taiye Pond built. The pond was large enough to have three hills in it， signifying the legendary hills in the sea where deities presumably lived. In order to enjoy moonlit scenes， the emperor also had another large lake built where a boat large enough to carry hundreds of people could float. The emperor often went boating on a full moon night to enjoy moon reflections on the lake.

Royal gardens of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) were stylized in harmony of nature and art， a tradition passed down from the Wei State (220-265) and Jin Dynasty (265-420). Huaqing Palace was typical of the royal residences near Chang’an， the capital of the Tang. It enjoyed a panoramic view of the gorgeous beauty of Mount Li whose lower western peaks presented a spectacular scene of evening sunset. The sunset at Mount Li was one of the eight major scenes around the capital at that time. Emperor Xuanzong had a few palaces built around a hot spring at Mount Li. The emperor and his concubine Lady Yang had exclusive bathing sites there.