Below, the History Encyclopedia editor brings the original text and appreciation of Chen Zilong’s “Touching the Spring Wind and Rain with Crimson Lips”. Interested readers and the History Encyclopedia editor can take a look together!
Red Lips, Feeling the Wind and Rain in Spring
(Ming) Chen Zilong
With eyes full of youthful beauty, the east wind always blows red. Several rounds of smoke, only flowers are difficult to protect.
Dreaming of missing each other, the former king of the country, Sun Lu. Spring has no master! At the cuckoo’s cry, tears rain with rouge.
annotation
The original title of this poem was “Dian Jiang Lips: Spring Maiden”, but later editors such as Wang Chang made modifications to elevate the ideas behind Chen Zilong’s poem.
Wang Sun: A term used to refer to those who respect etiquette and admire, such as “Wang Sun wanders away without returning” in the poem “Summoning Hermits” by Xiao Shan in Huainan. This is suspected to refer to the kings of Lu and Tang.
Vernacular translation
The beautiful spring scenery comes into view, and the east wind always blows away the flowers in spring. Several layers of misty rain, only these delicate flowers are difficult to protect. In my dreams, the road of my old homeland always appears from time to time. Spring is unpredictable, and in the place where azaleas cry blood, it is difficult to distinguish whether the fallen flowers are dyed red with spring rain or tears.
appreciation
This word is found in the Complete Works of Chen Zhongyu, expressing the sorrow of a lost country and the hope of a restored nation through cherishing flowers and caring for people. As shown in the question, this word is written as’ feeling the wind and rain in spring ‘. Spring rain and wind “refers to the environment, season, and atmosphere of the time, while” feeling “refers to the emotions and feelings that leave the poet behind. At the beginning of a word, there are two sentences that start with a positive tone and then a negative tone. At this moment, the poet looked up and saw ‘youthful beauty in all eyes’, a spring scenery. Then the east wind suddenly rose and set red all over the ground. This setback reflects the changes in nature, and thus also reflects the changes of the times. During the transition of the Ming and Qing dynasties, Chen Zilong had a deep affection for the Ming dynasty. In his view, the Ming Dynasty’s landscape was infinitely beautiful, just like the youth in one’s eyes. But when the Qing army moved south, the “Ten Days in Yangzhou” and “Three Slaughters in Jiading” were like a sudden gust of wind, destroying all kinds of colors and colors. Here, the poet uses the technique of metaphor. Shao Hua “(spring scenery) and” Hong “(flowers) represent beautiful things, representing the Ming Dynasty’s land and people that he loved; And ‘Dongfeng’ is a symbol of evil forces, also metaphorically referring to the southward movement of Qing soldiers. The term ‘Dongfeng’ has a negative connotation since ancient times, such as in Lu You’s’ Hairy Phoenix ‘where’ Dongfeng is evil and lacks joy ‘is simply applied to things that the poet hates. The following two sentences correspond to the word ‘habit’ with ‘several times’. The destruction of flowers by the East Wind is not just once, but often. The word ‘smoke’ is used to fill in the missing word ‘rain’ in the previous sentence. The continuous wind and rain of spring often present a misty state. In the raging east wind and misty rain, hundreds of flowers wither and become desolate. The poet couldn’t help but sigh sincerely, “Only flowers are difficult to protect!” The first few sentences were well prepared, and the poet’s emotions burst forth, weighing a thousand pounds. In life, he ran around shouting and risking his life to save the Ming Dynasty from danger, but to no avail. Therefore, this sentence precisely reflects the deep pain of the poet’s national demise.
In the second film, there is a stroke that directly expresses the connection to the Ming Dynasty, but it is still closely linked to the meaning of the lyrics in the previous film. The poet sees the fallen flowers ravaged by wind and rain during the day, and naturally associates them with the trampled homeland at night. The phrase ‘longing in dreams’ is a common phrase in erotic poems, but it is very profound and appropriate to express patriotism here. The term “Wang Sun” is usually understood as the offspring of nobles, such as in “Chu Ci: Recruiting Hermits” where “Wang Sun wanders away but never returns, and the spring grass grows lush”. However, the original meaning here is closer to what Du Fu said in “Lament for Wang Sun”: “Poor Wang Sun cries in the corner of the road”. As the Qing army marched south, the descendants of Zhu Ming’s royal family were either wandering on the road or wandering through ravines, with only a few people such as Tang King Zhu Yujian and Lu King Zhu Yihai still attempting to resist. The author here yearns for the Ming dynasty kings and grandsons, actually placing the hope of reviving the Ming dynasty on them. But even after waking up from the dream, the wind and rain remained like a rock, forming a red formation. Faced with such a cruel reality, he had to lament that ‘spring has no master’. The concluding sentence further accentuates this sense of sadness, expressing the sorrow of the country’s impending demise. The “Dujuan” in the sentence, also known as Du Yu, is said to have been transformed by the soul of the ancient Shu ruler Wangdi. It is hidden in the western mountains, weeping day and night, and its voice often bleeds. Later generations often used the cuckoo’s cry of blood to indicate the pain of losing a country. Here, it is said that ‘tears stained with rouge rain’ is transformed from ‘crying blood’. Therefore, when the cuckoo cries mournfully, blood and tears flow out, sprinkling on the wind and rain of falling flowers. The red rain fills the sky, creating a magnificent and tragic scene. The poet would not have written such a sentence without harboring deep hatred and suffering. The term ‘rouge’ is used to describe flowers falling in the rain, as in Du Fu’s’ Qu Jiang Dui Yu ‘where’ the forest flowers rain and rouge is wet ‘; And Li Yu’s “Wu Ye Ci” is used as a metaphor for tears, saying “Rouge tears, leaving people drunk, when heavy; Chen Zilong, on the other hand, integrated these old realities and created magnificent poems, endowing them with new ideas and giving them a deeper meaning and stronger beauty when read.
Chen Zilong attaches great importance to the expression of poetry, and he once said that his poetry was written to “support his aspirations in times of sorrow” (Preface to the Poetry of the Six Sons). Although the form of this word is “graceful and elegant”, the poet uses it as a way to “express his feelings when worrying”, which is similar to his poetry. When reading, one must go through the beautiful surface to appreciate the profound and eternal connotation.
