Originally written by Shi Hong. Translated and published with respect for the original author.
Among the pieces Mei Lao often played, there was another work known as the "little Qiao Ge" — Shan Ju Yin (Dwelling in the Mountains).
Both Shan Ju and Qiao Ge are attributed in Shen Qi Mi Pu to the Southern Song composer Mao Minzhong. The musical resemblance between the two pieces is striking — certain melodic phrases are nearly identical — and the Wenhui Tang Qin Pu even uses Shan Ju as a prelude to Qiao Ge, treating them as works by the same hand. This attribution should be considered settled.
According to Shen Qi Mi Pu, Qiao Ge was composed because "when the Yuan armies entered Lin'an, Minzhong could not bear to serve the new rulers and retreated into hiding." Shan Ju Yin speaks of "dwelling among clouds and mist, soaring above the hills and marshes, robed in grass and bark, treading among flowing streams." Both pieces share the theme of retreat into the mountains — though Qiao Ge carries a more explicit political dimension, while Shan Ju Yin reads as a pure declaration: I am nothing more than a servant of music.
Because Shan Ju Yin is shorter, Mei Lao's performances leaned toward intimacy and lyrical wandering — more quietly joyful. Mei Lao described it as possessing a quality unique to mountain life: "waves arising where there is no wind" — a stillness that moves of its own accord. The piece, heard in full, remains a compact "little Qiao Ge," always unfolding in its characteristic three-fold arc. This is the classic Guangling style.
From the Sound of Recitation to the Peace of Field and Stream
Mei Lao learned two pieces from his teacher, the Jinling guqin master Sun Tonghua: Kong Zi Du Yi (Confucius Studies the Book of Changes) and Geng Shen Diao Wei (Plowing at Shen, Fishing at Wei). He was always reticent about their origins, saying only that they had been passed down through "transmission from a master."
Du Yi has long inspired composers. The Shi Ji records that Confucius "read the Yi so often that the binding wore through three times." Mei Lao once recalled a small episode from his youth: after learning the first two sections, his teacher played the Guan family version in full — and the next day, Mei Lao had already memorized the entire piece. His teacher was delighted: "Little demon, you're sharp!"
Mei Lao grew increasingly devoted to this piece in his later years, renaming it Qiu Ye Du Yi (Reading the Changes on an Autumn Night). At gatherings at Yiyun Zhai, what guests heard most was Du Yi paired with Ping Sha. Before playing, the old master would sway his head and intone a passage of Tang poetry — richer than ordinary chanting, yet distinct from song or opera. I would call this yin chang — lyrical chanting.
Wang Yuanbo's afterword reads: "A friend once read the Yi on an autumn night; his voice rose and fell with grace, filling the heart — by dawn, the sound still lingered in my ears." One could not have said it better.
As for Geng Shen Diao Wei — it may be appreciated as a small, charming "album leaf": in its "casual brushstrokes and light ink," one senses the ease of an ancient hermit. Occasionally, two quiet double-stopped strings descend like a fishing line cast into still water — a touch of gentle wit. In recent years, Mei Lao added an original harmonic ending, lending the piece an even greater sense of open spaciousness.
The compositional techniques of Geng Shen and Du Yi are remarkably similar — even certain characteristic melodic figures recur between them. It seems very likely that both were composed by the same author, drawing on the theme of "fishing, woodcutting, plowing, and reading" — the four pursuits of the classical hermit ideal. The cast of sages is fitting: Confucius (Du Yi), Yi Yin (Geng Shen), and Jiang Taigong (Diao Wei). Whether other pieces once completed this set remains unknown.
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