After posting “Classic of Poetry,” I went on writing the following installment of the series. An observant reader/friend wrote to me, wishing to hear a recitation of Guanju: “The translation was helpful in understanding the content. Yet, the beauty of the poem was not complete without the sound.” Since I was able to hear the words in my head, I completely forgot that many of my readers could not read them. Should I read the poem by myself? The answer is, “No.” And, here is the reason:
Languages are living things that constantly change. Ancient Han language is a far cry from Mandarin Chinese of today. Many believe that regional dialects, such as Cantonese or Taiwanese, are closer to the ancient tongue. That might be accurate for Middle Chinese but not so for rimes from the Zhou Dynasty.
Obliged, I did some search online. The most informative and interesting result—by far—is a YouTube video by linguist J. J. Xu: “那些年用上古漢語讀過的《關雎》.”[1]
Previously, Xu recited “Guanju” in Ancient Han language twice and posted them on YouTube. In the first video of 2009, the poem was presented in traditional Chinese characters with International Phonetic Alphabet. The second video of 2014 had a stylistically-correct image with Seal Script on a bamboo-scroll background.
In the recent post, Xu brought back both readings and discussed the challenges of recreating an ancient language based on existing sources and modern tools. He first explained that there was never a “pure” sound of any given language. Every person speaks with some accents based on his/her personal history. He then presented multiple readings of the first two verses of “Guanju” by speakers of various nationality using IPA as a route map.
I must admit that, upon the first hearing of Xu’s 2009 reading, I was, on the one hand, fascinated, and on the other hand, completely lost. If not for the Chinese characters and IPA, I might as well be listening to Na’vi, or for that matter, Quenya . After a few rounds of listening, I was able to pick up a few familiar sounds. Other than the glides and vowel clusters, what sounded foreign to me were the rolled “r”s, the “s” endings, and the frequent glottal stops—“ʔ.” Alas, the limits of IPA. They are after all merely symbols. The same symbol can turn out sounding so differently from language to language. I was very amused by the sound of the onomatopoeia that opens the poem. “kro:n-kro:n” brings some vividness that “gwan-gwan” lacks.
Today, “Guanju” is most likely to be recited in Mandarin Chinese, a derivative of the Beijing dialect which does not use glottal stops. The initial consonances are more articulated, and the vowel sounds pure: 《關雎》 [guān jū]
關關雎鳩、在河之洲，[guān guān jū jiū、zài hé zhī zhōu，]
窈窕淑女、君子好逑。[yǎo tiǎo shū nǚ、jūn zǐ hǎo qiú。]
參差荇菜、左右流之，[cān cī xìng cài、zuǒ yòu liú zhī，]
窈窕淑女、寤寐求之；[yǎo tiǎo shū nǚ、wù mèi qiú zhī。]
求之不得、寤寐思服，[qiú zhī bù dé、wù mèi sī fú，]
悠哉悠哉、輾轉反側。[yōu zāi yōu zāi、zhǎn zhuǎn fǎn cè 。]
參差荇菜、左右采之，[cān cī xìng cài 、zuǒ yòu cǎi zhī，]
窈窕淑女、琴瑟友之；[yǎo tiǎo shū nǚ、qín sè yǒu zhī。]
參差荇菜、左右芼之，[cān cī xìng cài、zuǒ yòu mào zhī，]
窈窕淑女、鐘鼓樂之。[yǎo tiǎo shū nǚ、zhōng gǔ yào zhī。][2]
Many literary lovers in Hong Kong and Taiwan practice poetry readings in regional dialects. Sensitive audience should be able to hear the verses punctuated by glottal stops.[3]
I believe it is appropriate to round up this post by introducing a musical interpretation of “Guanju” by Zhoa Jiping, the renowned film composer. The elegant melody has been arranged for large orchestra and popularized in grand performances. One presentation that I found compelling, however, was sung by soprano Lee Min. In this particular performance, the Chinese bamboo flute obligato, played by Liu Yang, enhanced the ethereal beauty of the work.[4]
I will let the ancient poem speaks for itself.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUwcLZ8XZig, posted on July 10, 2020. For comparison, here is another reading of “Guanju” in Ancient Han: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxhdW2yB-iQ. From the sounds, especially the noticeable glottal stops, the reader of the latter could have been a native speak of a southern Chinese dialect.
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWGQu50Bx38 徐健順吟誦, Xu Jianshun reciting “Guanju” in Mandarin.
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t0zTbQHaLU “Guanju” in Cantonese.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3jOs61n3yg 廖秋蓁, 台語吟誦 “Guanju” in Taiwanese, recited by Liao Qiuzhēn.
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhao_Jiping, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyFiX2rEe4s