Zhuzhi Ci

Tang Dynasty - Liu Yuxi

The willows are green and the Qingjiang River is level,

I hear the singing on the Langjiang River.

The sun rises in the east and rains in the west.

It is said that there will be no sunshine or sunshine.

Liu Yuxi (772-842), also known as Mengde, was a writer and philosopher in the Tang Dynasty. A native of Luoyang (now part of Henan), his ancestral home is Zhongshan (now Dingxian, Hebei). He is a descendant of the Xiongnu tribe. His seventh generation ancestor Liu Liang moved to Luoyang with Emperor Xiaowen of Wei and changed his surname to Han. His father, Liu Xu, moved his family eastward to avoid the Anshi Rebellion and settled in Jiaxing (now part of Zhejiang). Liu Yuxi was born in Jiaxing. He advocated political innovation and was one of the central figures in the political innovation activities of Wang Shuwen School. Later he was demoted to Sima of Langzhou and governor of Lianzhou, and served as a guest of the prince in his later years. Some of his poems reflect the author's progressive thoughts. Poems such as "Bamboo Branch Poems" written by him after learning folk songs are fresh, lively, healthy and cheerful, and have a unique mood. The language is simple and vivid, and the emotions are lingering. His representative works include "Woyi Alley", "Autumn Poems", "Bamboo Branches" (6), "Langtaosha" (1), "Langtaosha" (8), and "Willow Branches" (1) "Reminiscence of the Past in Xisai Mountain", "Rewarding Lotte at the First Banquet in Yangzhou", etc. Among them, the famous sentence "The Tao is without clear (love) but there is clear (love)" in "Bamboo Branch" (6) The puns show the poet's unique ingenuity. His poems are summarized in "Collection of Liu Guests".

[Note]

Zhuzhi Ci: It is a kind of Bayu folk song. It is sung with flute and drum accompaniment and danced at the same time.

Sing: One word is "step". Singing, folk songs are the most developed in the southwest region. The union between men and women is often through singing; when they are in love, singing is used to express their feelings. Ta Ge is a folk song that is sung with feet tapping on the ground.

There are two sentences on the east side of the road: semantic puns, "sunrise in the east" means "sunny", and "rain in the west" means "no sunshine". "Qing" and "qing" have the same pronunciation, and "youqing" and "wuqing" are cryptic words for "affectionate" and "ruthless". On the surface, the Dongbian sentence is an explanation of "there is sunshine" and "no sunshine", but in fact it is a metaphor for "affectionate" and "ruthless". The meaning of the lyrics is that the listener can tell from the singing on the river that the singer is "sentimental". The emphasis on "you" and "nothing" in the last sentence is "you".

[Poem Translation, Poetry]

The willows by the river are green, with green branches hanging down, and the water is calm. Suddenly I heard the voice of my lover singing on the river. The sun is shining in the east and it is raining in the west. There may not be sunny days, but there are still sunny places.

[Appreciation]

Zhuzhi Ci is a kind of folk song in Bayu (today’s Chongqing City in eastern Sichuan Province). When singing, they are accompanied by flutes and drums and danced at the same time. The tone of voice is charming. When Liu Yuxi was the governor of Kuizhou, he wrote more than ten chapters according to the tune. This is one of the works that imitates folk love songs. It writes about the mood of a girl immersed in first love. She loves someone, but she doesn't know the other person's attitude for sure, so she has both hope and doubt, joy and worry. The poet uses her own tone to successfully express this subtle and complex psychology.

The first sentence describes the scene, what she saw before her eyes. The willows on the riverside have green stripes hanging down; the water flowing in the river is as flat as a mirror. It's a beautiful environment. The second sentence writes about what she heard. In such an emotional environment, she suddenly heard singing coming from the river. What a familiar voice that is! As soon as it reaches your ears, you know who is singing it. The third and fourth sentences continue to describe her psychological activities after hearing this familiar singing voice. Although the girl has already fallen in love with this young man in her heart, he has not expressed anything yet. Today, he walked from the riverside, and sang as he walked, which seemed to be somewhat interesting to him. This gave her a lot of comfort and encouragement, so she thought: This person is a bit like the weather during the Huangmei season. Call it a sunny day. It is still raining in the west. Call it a rainy day. It is rainy in the east. The sun is still out, but it’s really a bit unpredictable. The "Qing" in "Qing Yu" here is used to allude to the "qing" of emotions. "The Tao is still clear when there is no sunshine", that is, "the Tao is ruthless but still has feelings."

Through these two extremely vivid and simple poems, her confusion, her attachment, her uneasiness, her hope and expectation are all portrayed.

This kind of expression based on the characteristics of Chinese phonetics is common in folk love songs of the past dynasties. They are harmonious puns and at the same time vivid metaphors based on active associations. They are often based on familiar scenery, expressing subtle emotions explicitly but implicitly. For example, some Wu Sheng songs from the Southern Dynasties used this kind of homophonic pun to express love. For example, "Midnight Song" says: "I moved to my hometown because of my love for Huan. The tung tree grew in front of my door, and I saw Wuzi when I came in and out." (Huan was the pet name of women for their lovers at that time. Wuzi is a pun on my son, that is, my person. ) And: "I think of Huan's, the child's movement is due to Yu's feelings. The mist and dew hide the hibiscus, and the lotus cannot be seen clearly." Pity.) "Seven Days and Nights Girl Song": "The beautiful love never ends, the anniversary of the farewell, the silkworm does not make a cocoon, the day and night are long." (Because there will be less and more, so I miss you day and night. The hanging thread is the hanging thread. (Thinking puns.)

This kind of folk love songs that use harmonious puns to express feelings has a long history and has always been loved by the people. When a writer occasionally imitates something, it becomes novel, gratifying, and eye-catching. This is one of the reasons why Liu Yuxi's poem is loved by readers. (Shen Zufen)