09Oct/20

Chinese poem illustration/小雅 鱼藻/佚名 Happy fishes

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Chinese poem illustration: 小雅 鱼藻/ Xiaoya – Fishes in Weeds by Anonymous

小雅 鱼藻

Full video also available at Bilibili: 小雅 鱼藻

The 1st poem in sub-chapter Ten Poems of Fishes and Weeds(鱼藻之什), a typical poem on king’s happy party, which reflected the happiness and inner-peace of Zhou poeple.

From the primitive writing and simple structure, this poem very likely belongs to the early stage of Zhou dynasty. Arguement on characters 颁, 莘 and 那 is raised.

小雅 鱼藻
佚名

鱼在在藻，有颁其首。
王在在镐，岂乐饮酒。

鱼在在藻，有莘其尾。
王在在镐，饮酒乐岂。

鱼在在藻，依于其蒲。
王在在镐，有那其居。

04Oct/20

Chinese poem illustration/腊八/夏仁虎 Chinese new year starts from Laba

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Chinese poem illustration: 腊八/ Laba Festival by Xia Renhu

腊八

Full video also available at Bilibili: 腊八

A bowl of congee/porridge cooked with types of rice, seeds and nuts is the signature of this festival, also a reminder to Chinese: new year starts.

This poem describe the Laba festival of Beijing 100 years ago, just before the Qing dynasty ended. Wish you all a happy Laba festival with a bowl of nice Laba congee(腊八粥).

腊八
夏仁虎

腊八家家煮粥多，
大臣特派到雍和。
圣慈亦是当今佛，
进奉熬成第二锅。

04Oct/20

Chinese poem illustration/终南望余雪/祖咏 Snow mountain

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Chinese poem illustration: 终南望余雪/ Gaze at Melting Snow on South Mountain by Zu Yong

望终南余雪

Full video also available at Bilibili: 望终南余雪

The great Chang’an city and the vast South Mountain together make the snow great and unique, make this poem one of the best Tang poems about snow.

Zhongnan(终南) or South Mountain(南山) firstly appeared in Book of Songs(诗经) roughly 2500-3000 years from now. Since that time , Zhongnan becomes the ultimate term of big mountain, an ambitious life goal, the place most close to heaven, a place of immortals and divinity, a place for hermit…the image and allusion of Zhongnan appears in Chinese literature in every generations, its concept and metaphor changes accordingly.

终南望余雪
祖咏

终南阴岭秀，
积雪浮云端。
林表明霁色，
城中增暮寒。