Life is not a hundred years old, so what if it is a hundred years old?

This sentence comes from "Queju" written by Liu Bowen, a strategist and writer in the Ming Dynasty.

Original text:

Life is not a hundred years old, so what if it is a hundred years old?

The heroes of ancient times have all returned to the mountains and rivers.

Translation:

You cannot live to be a hundred years old, so what if you do? The heroes of the past and present have now turned into dust and scattered in the rivers.

Literary Appreciation:

In the first sentence of this opening chapter, the author points out the theme, making this poem full of philosophy. People often use "hundred years" to refer to life in general. Due to the short life itself, it is difficult to reach the age of "hundred years". Therefore, there is a lament that "life does not have a hundred years". It is impossible for a person to live to be a hundred years old. After all, life is limited. When everyone reaches a certain age, they will naturally leave.

Then he said, "How about a hundred years old?" Using the interrogative sentence style to go deeper, it enhances the expressive power of life's emotions and expresses the helplessness of life vividly. This rhetorical question also made people think.

These two lines of poems express a very profound understanding of life, so they can be written so deeply that readers can feel the poet's unique talents and talents in these two lines of poems. Attitude towards life. After all, a person's life is limited and it is difficult to live to be a hundred years old. Even if someone can live to be a hundred years old, it won't do anything.

This rhetorical question immediately brings out the full meaning of the poem. In short, aging is irresistible, and death that comes with aging is also inevitable. This is what the first two lines of this poem say.

The last two sentences of the poem use "ancient heroes" as examples to prove that life is immortal. "Heroes" since ancient times are bound to die, let alone ordinary people. To put it bluntly, there is life and there is death. The second half of the poem fulfills the previous intention and recalls the past, further elaborating on a unique outlook on life and telling the world that no matter who they are, even the heroes of the past and present, they will eventually return to dust.

However, this is also the destiny of life. It is the same for everyone. It is the normal state of life and no one can escape it. Therefore, people should do meaningful things every day they live. Only in this way can we truly create value. These two sentences describe the helplessness of life and show everyone's style. Only those who have experienced ups and downs can write so profoundly.

Especially Liu Ji himself is the "hero" who assisted Zhu Yuanzhang in sweeping away the heroes and achieving the great cause of unification. The tragedy expressed here is not the innocent moaning of ordinary literati.