Writers › Writer / Poet

Gu Xiong

Shu official and lyricist whose fifty-five songs in Among the Flowers rank third in number after Wen Tingyun and Sun Guangxian

Gu Xiong is known mainly from Wu Renchen's Qing-dynasty Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms, which says he served as a minor palace attendant under Wang Jian of the Former Shu around 916 and was later promoted to prefect of Maozhou. After the Former Shu fell he took office under the Meng family's Later Shu and rose to the honorary rank of grand commandant. His song lyrics deal with love and longing in the women's quarters, and a line from his 'Suzhongqing', asking to exchange the beloved's heart for his own so she might know how deep his longing runs, is often quoted. Zhao Chongzuo's Among the Flowers includes fifty-five of his lyrics, more than any poet but Wen Tingyun and Sun Guangxian, under tunes such as 'Heyebei' and 'Hezhuan'.

Life and times

  1. UnknownBornFive Dynasties and Ten KingdomsSongFormer and Later Shu periods
  2. UnknownDied

Works

  1. Literature · Lyrics49
    1. Lotus Leaf Cup · Spring Ends, Petals Fall in the Little CourtFive Dynasties and Ten KingdomsGu Xiong's lyric of a woman at a railing as spring ends, sick with longing
    2. Lotus Leaf Cup · From Whose Feast the Song RisesFive Dynasties and Ten KingdomsGu Xiong's lyric of a song from a distant feast stirring the grief of parting at night
    3. Lotus Leaf Cup · Slender Willows, Fair Flowers All in BloomFive Dynasties and Ten KingdomsGu Xiong's lyric of a perfumed young dandy on a sunny spring lane
    4. Lotus Leaf Cup · I Remember When We MetFive Dynasties and Ten KingdomsGu Xiong recalls a first meeting and a shy girl who will not lift her head
    5. Lotus Leaf Cup · Late at Night the Song Turns PlaintiveFive Dynasties and Ten KingdomsGu Xiong's autumn-night lyric of a sad song, a waning moon and dew soaking a golden robe
    6. +25 more
      1. Lotus Leaf Cup · I Long for Your PoemsFive Dynasties and Ten KingdomsGu Xiong's lyric of longing for a lover's poems and answering on red notepaper
      2. Lotus Leaf Cup · Golden Duck Incense, Mandarin-Duck QuiltFive Dynasties and Ten KingdomsGu Xiong's portrait of a beauty in a scented bedchamber, waist of willow and face of lotus
      3. Lotus Leaf Cup · Butterflies over the Winding StepsFive Dynasties and Ten KingdomsGu Xiong's mid-spring lyric in which flowers and willows mirror a woman's beauty
      4. Lotus Leaf Cup · Gone, and the Promise Broken AgainFive Dynasties and Ten KingdomsGu Xiong's lyric of a woman pacing a mossy courtyard for a lover who broke his word
      5. Song of Ganzhou · A Censer of Dragon Musk beside the Brocade CurtainFive Dynasties and Ten KingdomsGu Xiong's sensuous short ci of a long night of love and whispers on the pillow
      6. Song of Ganzhou · On Every Clear Night and Fine DawnFive Dynasties and Ten KingdomsGu Xiong's short ci of a woman alone on fine nights and mornings, fresh tears on her pillow
      7. Song of Ganzhou · Like Liu and Ruan Seeking the ImmortalsFive Dynasties and Ten KingdomsGu Xiong recasts the Liu-Ruan legend as a night of love that dreads the dawn bell
      8. Song of Ganzhou · Deep in a Little Tower among Dewy Peach BlossomsFive Dynasties and Ten KingdomsGu Xiong's short ci of wine and zither in a peach-blossom tower, then a drunken return to bed
      9. Song of Ganzhou · By the Red Brazier at Midnight, Tipsy, Tuning the Reed PipeFive Dynasties and Ten KingdomsGu Xiong's short ci of a reed pipe played by a red brazier and glances by lamplight
      10. Telling My Heart · Incense Out, Curtains Down, the Spring Night LongFive Dynasties and Ten KingdomsGu Xiong's boudoir lament of a long spring night alone, heartbroken under the moon
      11. Telling My Heart · Through the Long Night, Where Have You GoneFive Dynasties and Ten KingdomsGu Xiong's short lyric of a woman left alone all night, wishing he could feel her heart
      12. Silk-Washing Stream · Spring Bewitches, and Grief Runs LongFive Dynasties and Ten KingdomsGu Xiong's short ci of a woman alone in spring whose dreams chase her wanderer to the far ends
      13. Silk-Washing Stream · Red Lotus, Cold Fragrance, a Level Green IsletFive Dynasties and Ten KingdomsGu Xiong's short ci of an autumn night alone, woken by a frontier goose, weeping at the window
      14. Silk-Washing Stream · A Light Breeze over Lotus and Water ChestnutFive Dynasties and Ten KingdomsGu Xiong's short ci of a woman alone by a summer lotus pond, rueing a faithless young man
      15. Silk-Washing Stream · A Year Since I Parted from Xie NiangFive Dynasties and Ten KingdomsGu Xiong's short ci of a man a year apart from his love, with no messenger bird to bring word
      16. Silk-Washing Stream · Yellow Chrysanthemums Drift, the Jade Dew Is HeavyFive Dynasties and Ten KingdomsGu Xiong's short ci of a lovers' meeting on an autumn night, shadowed by dread of the dawn bell
      17. Silk-Washing Stream · Thin Clouds, High Wind, Leaves FlyingFive Dynasties and Ten KingdomsGu Xiong's short ci of autumn wind, cold rain and a woman whose man will not come home
      18. Silk-Washing Stream · Geese Cry in the Far SkyFive Dynasties and Ten KingdomsGu Xiong's boudoir lament of geese in the night sky and a lover from whom no word comes
      19. Silk-Washing Stream · White Dew, a Bright Moon, Autumn AgainFive Dynasties and Ten KingdomsGu Xiong's short ci of autumn moonlight and the memory of a beloved's slightly knitted brows
      20. The Drunken Young Lord · Pale Autumn Clouds Spread WideFive Dynasties and Ten KingdomsGu Xiong's short ci of a woman who hears autumn cicadas and feels last year's grief again
      21. The Drunken Young Lord · Bank Willows Hang Threads of GoldFive Dynasties and Ten KingdomsGu Xiong's short ci of a woman by the willows, watching riders pass and sighing at rare trysts
      22. Wine Spring Song · A Silk Sash Threaded with GoldFive Dynasties and Ten KingdomsGu Xiong's short ci of a woman weeping on her quilt for a faithless lover who sends no word
      23. Wine Spring Song · Willows Dance in the WindFive Dynasties and Ten KingdomsGu Xiong's short ci of a woman so long without news that dust gathers on her mirror
      24. Wine Spring Song · Sun Slanting on the Little RailingFive Dynasties and Ten KingdomsGu Xiong's short ci of a woman at a green window, ageing with grief, tear stains in her powder
      25. Wine Spring Song · Brows Faint, Rouge DeepFive Dynasties and Ten KingdomsGu Xiong's short ci of a finely adorned woman with no word from afar as another spring goes
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