The Poem
江南好，
風景舊曾諳。
日出江花紅勝火，
春來江水綠如藍。
能不憶江南？
Jiāng nán hǎo,
fēng jǐng jiù céng ān.
Rì chū jiāng huā hóng shèng huǒ,
chūn lái jiāng shuǐ lǜ rú lán.
Néng bù yì jiāng nán?
The south was good.
Its scenery, long familiar.
At sunrise, river flowers redder than fire.
In spring, river water green as indigo.
How could one not remember the south?
Words to Learn
江jiānga river
南nánsouth
好hǎogood
風风fēngwind
景jǐngscenery, view
花huāa flower
紅红hóngred
綠绿lǜgreen
藍蓝lánindigo, blue
憶忆yìto remember
A Rendering
The south was good.
I have not forgotten its scenery.
When the sun rose, the river flowers were redder than fire.
When spring came, the river water was green as indigo.
How could anyone not remember the south?
About the Poem
Bai Juyi served as governor of Hangzhou and later of Suzhou, two cities along the lower Yangtze River, in the 820s. The south of China — Jiāngnán — was the warm, watery, fertile region that he came to love during his time there. Years later, after returning to the north, he wrote three short cí beginning with the line Jiāng nán hǎo — "the south was good." This is the first of them. The cí pái Yì Jiāng Nán takes its name from Bai Juyi's opening words, and was used by many poets after him.
The Poem
西塞山前白鷺飛，
桃花流水鱖魚肥。
青箬笠，
綠蓑衣，
斜風細雨不須歸。
Xī Sài shān qián bái lù fēi,
táo huā liú shuǐ guì yú féi.
Qīng ruò lì,
lǜ suō yī,
xié fēng xì yǔ bù xū guī.
In front of West Bastion Mountain, white egrets fly.
Peach blossoms on the flowing water; mandarin fish are fat.
A green bamboo hat,
a green grass coat —
slanting wind and fine rain, no need to go home.
Words to Learn
山shāna mountain
前qiánin front of
白báiwhite
鷺鹭lùan egret
飛飞fēito fly
桃táopeach
水shuǐwater
魚鱼yúa fish
雨yǔrain
歸归guīto return, to go home
A Rendering
In front of West Bastion Mountain, white egrets fly.
Peach blossoms drift on the flowing water; the mandarin fish are fat.
Under a green bamboo hat,
wrapped in a green grass coat —
with slanting wind and fine rain, there is no need to go home.
About the Poem
Zhang Zhihe was a Tang scholar-official who, after being dismissed from court, retired to the lakes and rivers of the lower Yangtze and lived as a recluse, fishing from a small boat. His friends called him Yān Bō Diào Tú, "Mist-and-Wave Fishing Companion." He wrote five cí in the Yú Gē Zi form, of which this is the first and best known. Though Zhang Zhihe lived in the late Tang, the form became a founding pattern of the genre that followed, and 漁歌子 — Fisherman's Song — was taken up by later poets as a model for the contemplative pastoral cí. West Bastion Mountain (Xī Sài Shān 西塞山) stands above the Yangtze in modern Hubei province.
The Poem
明月別枝驚鵲，
清風半夜鳴蟬。
稻花香裡說豐年，
聽取蛙聲一片。
七八個星天外，
兩三點雨山前。
舊時茅店社林邊，
路轉溪橋忽見。
Míng yuè bié zhī jīng què,
qīng fēng bàn yè míng chán.
Dào huā xiāng lǐ shuō fēng nián,
tīng qǔ wā shēng yī piàn.
Qī bā gè xīng tiān wài,
liǎng sān diǎn yǔ shān qián.
Jiù shí máo diàn shè lín biān,
lù zhuǎn xī qiáo hū jiàn.
Bright moon, parting from a branch, startles a magpie.
A clean breeze in the middle of the night, and a singing cicada.
Among the fragrance of rice flowers, talk of a good year.
Listen — a sheet of frog-sound everywhere.
Seven or eight stars, beyond the sky.
Two or three drops of rain, in front of the mountain.
The old wattle-shop, beside the temple grove —
the road turns at the river-bridge, and suddenly there it is.
Words to Learn
月yuèthe moon
鵲鹊quèa magpie
蟬蝉chána cicada
稻dàorice (the plant)
香xiāngfragrant, fragrance
蛙wāa frog
星xīnga star
雨yǔrain
橋桥qiáoa bridge
見见jiànto see, to appear
A Rendering
The bright moon parts from a branch, and a magpie startles up.
A clean wind blows at midnight, and a cicada sings.
Among the smell of rice flowers, the farmers say it will be a good year.
Listen — frogs are calling everywhere, a whole sheet of frog-sound.
Seven or eight stars are beyond the sky.
Two or three drops of rain fall in front of the mountain.
The old wattle-roofed shop, the one beside the temple grove —
the road turns at the river bridge, and suddenly there it is.
About the Poem
Xin Qiji was a Southern Song general and poet who spent his life trying, and failing, to persuade the imperial court to retake the north of China from the Jurchen Jin dynasty that had occupied it after 1127. Repeatedly demoted and finally retired against his will, he spent his middle years on a small estate in Jiangxi province, walking the country roads and writing cí. This is one of those cí. The Yellow Sand Road (Huángshā Dào 黃沙道) ran near his estate. The poem records a single night walk: the moon, a startled magpie, a cicada, the smell of rice flowers, frogs everywhere, a few stars, a few drops of rain, and the small surprise at the end — the familiar inn, suddenly visible past a bend in the road. The cí pái Xī Jiāng Yuè — "Moon Over the Western River" — was a popular Song-dynasty form. The full title of this cí is Xī Jiāng Yuè: On the Yellow Sand Road by Night (西江月·夜行黃沙道中).