In today’s Chinese class we look at a poem by BaiJuyi (白居易), a Tang Dynasty poet who lived between between 772AD and 846AD.
To be able to understand this poem and eventually recite it we first need to hear it. Click on the video below to find a rendition of this beautiful Tang Dynast poem, and then read the vocabulary notes and translation.
Song of a River at Sunset in Pinyin
Mù jiāng yín
Yīdào cán yáng pū shuǐzhōng
Bàn jiāng sèsè bàn jiāng hóng
Kělián Jiǔyuè chūsān yè
Lù sì zhēnzhū yuè sì gōng
Vocabulary Notes
Title
We can translate the title of this Song of a River at Sunset.
- the character 暮 refers to sunset, it is primarily used in writing.
- 江 means river
- 吟 song.
Line 1
- 一道 is used as a measure word for the sunlight.
- 残 means partial and can be used to mean disabled. In this case it refers to a partial sun 残阳.
- 铺 means to cover, or used as a verb to mean covering the river 水中
Line 2
- 半江 the first character means half and the second river, so half of the river
- 瑟瑟 this indicates that half of the river is it’s natural green colour
- 半江红 and the other half red
Line 3
- 可怜 these characters mean cherish
- 九月 the ninth month – September in the Lunar Calendar.
- 初三夜 the third
The poet is referring to the September the 3 of the lunar calendar. It is early in each month of the lunar calendar that the crescent moon is at it’s clearest. He is inviting us to cherish the evening of the 3rd of September the image of a crescent moon is most visible. Having given us this image the poet then proceeds in line 4 with some beautiful similes.
Line 4
- 露 This character can be translated as frost.
- 似 The character 似 is a literary tool to indcate a simile is coming
- 真珠 pearl. So the first half of line 4 is the frost is like a pearl
- 月 This means moon
- 似弓 The moon is like a bow
The poem – 暮江吟.
暮江吟
一道残阳铺水中
半江瑟瑟半江红
可怜九月初三夜
露似真珠月似弓
Song of a river at sunset – 暮江吟 – Translation
Song of a river at sunset
The light of a partial sun sparkles on the river
Half of the river green, half of the river red.
Cherish the third evening of September (lunar calendar)
The dew like a pearl; the crescent moon a bow.
