The Lyrical Resonance Between Chinese Poets and Painters: The Tra ...

Introduction

-Qu Yuan

Tracing the origin of tihuashi in his Shuoshi cuiyu (Collected remarks on poetry), the Qing scholar Shen Deqian (1673-1769) claimed that there was no practice of tihuashi until the Tang period (618-907), when the poet Du Fu (712-770) began to write it.¹ Shen's claim remains controversial, as huaming and huazan written to complement palace and tomb murals existed as early as the Han period (206 BC-AD 220) or even earlier-when murals at imperial palaces, ancestral shrines, and tombs were inscribed with eulogistic writings on the side.² According to the Jin shu (A history of the Jin dynasty), “a volume entitled Tushi [Poems for pictures] which belongs to the category of huazan,” was found among