Chinese Classical Poem --0018: Du Hai River -- Cross Han River

LISTEN TO THE TEXTLISTEN TO SHIRLEY SANGE THE POEM


Hi, friends, have you had the feelings that it was more you wanted to know something, it was more you felt nervous when you were closing the true fact? Have you had the experience that you have left from your hometown for many years and there were no any mails from your family, you were so worrying about your family so that you escaped from your position before being allowed by your boss. After you went through innumerable trials and hardships and finally you came back to your hometown. But, on the road that near your home, when you started to meet your neighbors, friends and colleagues one by one, when you have seen the smoke from kitchen chimneys from your village, you suddenly felt to be afraid and you did not dare to ask anyone and anything about the situation of your family? This is just the complicated psychology that the poem Du Han Jiang -- Cross The Han River has expressed.

This peom was written by the earlier period of Tang Dynasty(A.D.618-A.D.907) poet Song Zhiwen(A.D.656 - A.D.712). He and the other poet "Shen Yuanqi" are called "Shen Song" for their accomplishment on improvement of Chinese poetry skills.

This is a poem that I have enjoyed for many years. The first poetry comment that I learned to write in the university is just it. I like it for the little poem expresses some quite common human feelings with only 20 words via a very high writing skill.

Song Zhiwen had been an official and he was demoted to Long Zhou (in today’s Luo Ding county in Guang Dong province) from the capital. In Tang Dynasty, Guang Dong was a very desolate place and he lost the connection to his family. So, he tried to escape back home -- Fen Yang (in today’s Shanxi Province). After he crossed the Hai River and he was near his hometown, he created this poem to express his heart.

As usual, I wrote a piece of music for the poem and hope you enjoy it. :-)

MAIN MEANING OF THE POEM LISTEN TO SHIRLEY SANGE THE POEM:

In the other side of the Ling mountains,
the mails and letters of my family have stopped
for a winter and a spring.
The more I am near my hometown,
the more I fell nervous in my heart ,
be afraid of hearing anything bad about my family,
do not dare to ask any acquaintance from the same village...

NEW WORDS:

岭:Ling3 -- mountain name (in Guang Dong)
外:wai4 -- outside
音书: yin1 shu1 -- mail, message, news
书:shu1 -- letter (in classical Chinese, shu means letter, but in the modern Chinese, it means "book")
断: duan4-- break off
经: jing1 -- go through
冬: dong1 -- winter
复: fu4 -- again
历: li4 -- go through
春: chuan1 -- spring
近: jin4 -- near, close
乡: xiang1-- hometown, native place
情: qing2 -- feeling, heart
更: geng4 -- even more
怯: qie4 -- nervous, be afraid
不: bu4 -- no, not
敢: gan3 --dare
问: wen4 -- ask
来人: lai2 ren2 -- people who are coming from hometown.
来: lai2 -- come
人: ren2 -- people, person

CHINESE CHARACTRES LISTEN TO SHIRLEY SANGE THE POEM:

岭外音书断，
经冬复历春。
近乡情更怯，
不敢问来人。

That is all of this poem and hope you enjoy it. :-)

If you have any questions, comments and suggestions, please write to shirley@ebridge.cn , or shirleyz004@yahoo.com, You are welcomed.

--Shirley
Created the Music and Sang It On Sat, Nov 19, 2005
Written, Edited, and Recorded It In On Sun, Nov 20, 2005