The Stories Hidden in Tang and Song Lyrics is Su Yanci's interpretation of Tang and Song lyrics. It traces the origins and development of the ci form. In the Dunhuang song lyrics, we hear folk singers' heartfelt cries of life, such as "even if the mountains crumble and the rivers run dry." In the Western Shu anthology Among the Flowers, Wen Tingyun's ornate, sensuous verse and Wei Zhuang's spare, profound style also conceal scholars' subtle laments for their homeland. During the Southern Tang, Li Yu drew on the suffering of a life that took him from emperor to prisoner to write the timeless sorrow of "spring waters flowing east," expanding the expressive scope of ci. In the early Northern Song, Yan Shu, Ouyang Xiu, and others carried on the Southern Tang tradition, blending the refined tastes of scholar-officials with the spirit of the age and bringing the art of the short lyric to its height. The work brings to life the people and stories behind the history of ci, revealing its evolution from the songs and laments of ordinary people to the elegant verses of scholars, and from entertainment to a vessel for the fate of the land and of human lives. It makes the warmth and deep feeling of a thousand years of ci poetry tangible.
