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The Four Sages of Mount Shang and the Zizhi Melody

Release date:

2023-06-18

During the late Qin and early Han dynasties, four renowned scholars—Tang Bing, known as the Eastern Garden Master; Zhou Shu, called the Master of Luli; Wu Shi, nicknamed the Qi Li Ji; and Cui Guang, known as the Xia Huang Gong—retired to Mount Shang (now within the borders of Shangluo City, Shaanxi Province) in protest against Emperor Qin Shihuang’s brutal policies of book burning and the burying of scholars. Liu Bang, having long heard of the Four Elders’ fame, invited them to leave their seclusion and serve in official posts, but they declined. Later, when the four emerged from retirement to assist Crown Prince Liu Ying, each was already over eighty years old, with white hair and beards, and thus came to be known as the “Four Elders of Mount Shang.”
The “Zizhi Qu” is said to have been composed at the end of the Qin dynasty by the “Four Sages of Mount Shang,” who were then living in seclusion there. In the Song dynasty’s “Collection of Yuefu Poems—Qin Melodies, Volume Two,” two versions of a poem titled “Cai Zhi Cao” are recorded. The “Zizhi Qu” also serves as a general term for songs or lyrics celebrating reclusion and withdrawal from the world.
Momo’s lofty mountains, with valleys winding far and wide.
The radiant purple mushroom can relieve hunger.
The ages of Tang and Yu are long past; where, then, shall I return?
The four-horse chariot with its lofty canopy—its anxieties are most profound,
The burden of wealth and honor makes one less happy than poverty.
The lowly, in their arrogance, all enter the marketplace.
Picture of the Four Sages of Mount Shang Gathering Mushrooms