The Creation of the Bronze Bird Terrace-Scape in the Northern and Southern Dynasties Period

Abstract

The Bronze Bird Terrace of Ye was a site where poets of the Cao family celebrated Cao Cao's 曹操 (155–220) accomplishments. This mode of celebration changed after Cao Cao's death, as poets of the succeeding dynasties altered the significance of the site from one of celebration to a real or imagined space in which one could ruminate on the rise and fall of greatness, the brevity of human life, and the sadness of abandonment. In particular, later poets gradually shifted their focus from Cao Cao to female performers who had originally performed various rites and performances to Cao Cao's spirit, eventually creating a prescribed set of metaphors, images, and phrases that became inseparable from the place itself and the sorrow of those young women who performed there in vain, morphing into a recognizable set of formal prescriptions for composition that I have called “the terrace-scape.”