An Idea about the Poet(s) of SB 34981

I was re-reading the introduction to Chiu's Bannermen Tales this morning when I noticed something that I had missed before. She translates a passage from a zidishu text called "Ziditu" (子弟圖), which includes the following line:

風流乞丐貶江湖

Chiu's translation: "People who are romantic but go about begging for money are derogatively called jianghu [roamers throughout the lakes and rivers]."

The expression ula tenggin, which would translate 江湖, occurs in SB 11.1 and 14.30, the Fishing poem, in which the poet talks about the romantic lifestyle of a wandering fisherman:

	nimaha butarangge [漁]		Fishing
	Staatsbibliothek 11.1 (View Online)
	tugi mukei ba,		A place of clouds and water.
	mini boo,		In what quarter
	ya falga,		is my home?
	ula tenggin hūi ciha,		Among rivers and lakes, wherever I please,
5	asu maktara,		I will cast my net.
	nimaha niša,		The fish are plentiful,
	nure hūlašacina,		I hope I can trade them for wine.
	wei sasa,		Who am I with?
	nurei hoki --		The companions of wine —
10	bele edun biya.		Rice, wind and moon.

I had previously assumed that this poem was written by someone like an official translator, whose ordinary life was stressful and boring, who dreamed about being able to retire to the quiet life of a fisherman.

But what if this poem is a romantic description of the poet's current life? That is, what if this poem was written by a member of the class of itinerant performers disparaged as jianghu? In that case, we can see the act of fishing as a metaphor for something like busking, performing one's art in the chance hope of receiving a little money.