The Evolution of Jueju Verse (review)

444 China Review International: Vol. 5, No. 2, Fall 1998 ated the unpopular "money politics"; and President Lee's "pragmatic diplomacy," which appeared at first to be an unqualified success, ultimately provoked the PRC and led to the Taiwan Strait crisis of 1995-1996. Thus, Lee's convincing reelection as president in March 1996 did not so much mark the consolidation ofa KMTdominated electoral democracy as set the stage for new patterns ofpolitical contestation —which, after all, is the hallmark of democracy. Hood provides an excellent short overview and synthesis ofTaiwan's democratization . It is not so much an analysis ofthe special role of the Kuomintang, though, as a complete and balanced summary ofmajor events, leaders, and policies . This is not necessarily a criticism, given the limited availability of materials on key internal Party decisions and affairs. The book is to be commended for showing how leaders and their policies decisively shaped Taiwan's democratic transition, how political reforms in the 1950s ultimately strengthened pro-democracy groups within the KMT in the 1980s, and how democracy can have some less desirable side effects. In short, it is an incisive case study of democratization in one country that should both help our understanding of that country's politics and provide interesting grist for wider debates about democratic transitions. CaI Clark Auburn University CaI Clark is a professor ofpolitical science specializing in the political economy of East Asian development. m Daniel Hsieh. The Evolution ofJueju Verse. Asian Thought and Culture, vol. 12. New York: Peter Lang, 1996. 375 pp. Hardcover $58.95, isbn 08204 -3331-4· Although many ofthe most memorable works of the Chinese poetic tradition have been jueju |ë"nj quatrains, the pentasyllable wujue iftS form (twenty characters ) and the heptasyllabic qijue form -tf§ (twenty-eight characters) have been relatively understudied. Daniel Hsieh's book is thus a useful addition to the field; he provides a large amount ofdetailed information aboutjueju, culled from a© 1998 by University ^6 array Qçtra(]juonai an¿ mociern sources. He adopts abasicallyhistorical approach : The purpose ofthis study is to trace the origins ofthe jueju from its earliest beginnings , which may go as far back as the Shijing, through the Six Dynasties, up ofHawai'i Press Reviews 445 to and through the Early Tang. By the end ofthis period the basic foundations ofthe genre were established, and one begins to see mature works only a step away from the masterpieces ofthe High Tang. (p. 6) Hsieh avows that "Any and every factor that mayplay a role in the development ofthejueju will be considered" (p. 14). In several ofits basic arguments, the book is on firm ground: the termjueju was already in use in the Six Dynasties, aldiough its etymology is still subject to debate; the development ofjueju form and style, as well as the natural and direct "voice" that became so prized injueju aesthetics, owed much to die primarily pentasyllable quatrain-length yuefu of die Southern Dynasties (e.g., the "Songs of Wu" and the "Western Songs"); literati poets of the Liu-Song (420-479), Qi (479502 ), and Liang (502-557), particularly those involved in the creation of"palacestyle " poetry, adopted die pentasyllable quatrain form and explored its potential; Yu Xin (513-581), die major writer ofthe literati pentasyllable quatrain of the late Six Dynasties, did much to transform it into a medium for personal statement (e.g., in allegorical descriptions and parting poems); Wang Ji (585-644) and Wang Bo (649-676), and to a lesser extent Zhang Yue (667-731), created distinct styles for literati pentasyllable quatrains and prepared the ground for the high Tang masters; and heptasyllabic quatrains followed a separate line of development, becoming important only in the early Tang. These arguments show the imprint of important modern jueju commentators like Luo Genze, Wang Yunxi, Zhou Xiaotian, Shen Zufen, Lin Shuen-fu, and the collaborative team of Fu Shousun and Liu Baishan; Hsieh's attention to the contributions of a range ofJapanese scholars like Hirano Hikojirö and Suzuki Torao is also welcome. Certain sections of the book are insightful, for example those on Bao Zhao's (ca. 414-466) contribution in elevating the quatrain song form to a literati medium, Yu Xin...