Poetic Yunnan 4: Five poems on Qingming Festival

The Daguan River empties into the Dianchi Lake in central Yunnan's Kunming. Photo/Wang Shixue

I

qīng míng shí jiē yǔ fēn fēn
清明时节雨纷纷，

Around Qingming Festival, by Jin Daxue, created in 2007 (L). It Drizzles Endlessly at Qingming Festival, by Wang Mingming [Photo/Artron.net]

The Mourning Day
Writing by Du Mu; Translating by Xu Yuanchong

A drizzling rain falls like tears on the Mourning Day;
The mourner's heart is going to break on the way.
Where can a wineshop be found to drown his sad hours?
A cowherd points to a cot amid apricot flowers.

Culture ABCs:
a. Du Mu (803-852) lived as an official in the late Tang Dynasty, and Xu Yuanchong (1921-2021) is a top translator and former professor at Peking University.
b. This is probably the best-known Qingming poem in China, with its tune changing from overwhelming sadness to a slight sense of promisingness.
c. Xìnghuacun, or the village amid apricot flowers in Line 4, is located in east China’s Anhui province. It produces excellent wine, and now Xinghuacun may refer to wine shops in general.

Residents in central Yunnan's Kunming pay tribute to their ancestors on the Mourning Day.

II
qīng míng rì bú dé guī jiā jì zǔ shēng kǎi
清明日不得归家祭祖生慨
zhāng yǒu fú
张友福

cǐ rì qīng míng yǔ yòu fēn
此日清明雨又纷，
kě lián kōng zhe duàn cháng wén
可怜空著断肠文。
xiāng yīn bèi zǔ qíng nán zǔ
乡音被阻情难阻，
lèi zuò qiān háng jì zǔ fén
泪作千行祭祖坟。

Residents in central Yunnan's Kunming offer flowers to their ancestors on the Mourning Day.

Sigh over Absence from Tomb Sweeping at Home on Mourning Day
Writing by Zhang Youfu; Translating by Wang Shixue

It's drizzling again on this Mourning Day,
But I can only compose a heartbreaking piece, ay!
Home return is held up but not the sentiment;
In tears, I write the lines to ancestors as a tribute.

Culture ABCs:
a. Zhang Youfu, a Guizhou native, currently works as a police officer in central Yunnan’s Kunming.
b. This poem is obviously an imitation of Du’s work above, borrowing the images of “the drizzling rain” and “a heart-broken mourner”.

Residents in central Yunnan's Kunming pay tribute to their ancestors on the Mourning Day.

If poems I and II generally present a tone of sadness on the Mourning Day, then the following two tell the Chinese scholars’ diligence and thriftiness as well as their sense of mission for the motherland.

III
qīng míng
清明
wáng yǔ chēng
王禹偁

wú huā wú jiǔ guò qīng míng
无花无酒过清明，
xìng wèi xiāo rán sì yě sēng
兴味萧然似野僧。
zuó rì lín jiā qǐ xīn huǒ
昨日邻家乞新火，
xiǎo chuāng fèn yǔ dú shū dēng
晓窗分与读书灯。

Primary students in central Yunnan's Kunming pay tribute to revolutionary martyrs on the Mourning Day.

The Mourning Day
Writing by Wang Yucheng; Translating by Xu Yuanchong

With nor flowers nor wine I passed the Mourning Day,
As drear as a friar begging all the way.
I asked my neighbor for new-made fire last night,
Lighting my lamp at dawn, I may read by its light.

Culture ABCs:
a. Wang Yucheng (954-1001) lived in the Northern Song Dynasty, and the poem shows that scholars in ancient China learned really hard for academic progress. This is also valued in today’s China.
b. The “new-made fire” in Line 3 is an allusion of the Cold-Food Day before the Mourning Day. Ancient Chinese folks put out their fire at home to have cold food in the honor of Jie Zitui, who died of a fire set to his hiding forest by an emperor in the Spring-Autumn Period (770-476 BC). Later, eating cold food also became a folk practice on the Mourning Day.

The cold food Zitui bun is named after Jie Zitui. [Photo/sust.edu.cn]

IV
qīng míng zhān yǎng xī nán lián dà liè shì bēi
清明瞻仰西南联大烈士碑
liú xīng zhào
刘星照

shū shēng jiàn lǚ yù lóng téng
书生剑履欲龙腾，
níng xuè chéng zhāng yùn yǒng héng
凝血成章韵永恒。
bēi kè wú shēng guāng yǐng xuàn
碑刻无声光影眩，
yīng hún jǐ lǚ cùn qíng chéng
英魂几缕寸情澄。

dào lái tiān huǒ rán lí jù
盗来天火燃藜炬，
fēn yǔ hán chuāng liàng dú dēng
分与寒窗亮读灯。
gèng sòng hóng yīn shū jìn yì
更诵洪音舒劲翼，
zhǎng fēng wàn lǐ huà kūn péng
长风万里化鲲鹏。

Primary students in south Yunnan's Mengzi pay tribute to Lianda's patriotic professor Wen Yiduo on the Mourning Day.

A Visit to the Martyrs' Monument at Lianda on Mourning Day
Writing by Liu Xingzhao; Translating by Wang Shixue

Willed scholars soar like loongs,
Shedding blood into lasting songs.
Silent monuments shine in light and shadow,
Patriotism shown in spirits of the hero.

The goosefoot torch is lit up by stolen heavenly fire,
Brightening reading lamps for scholars poor.
They chant aloud at night to stretch wings fair,
Becoming rocs via flights they never moor.

Culture ABCs:
a.Liu Xingzhao, born in 1964 in northwest Yunnan’s Yongsheng county, is a senior economist with a passion in literature. Like III, this poem also presents a picture of hard-working intellectuals in China.
b. “Lianda” in the title, with the full name being the National Southwest Associated University, refers to the 8-year existence of Peking University, Tsinghua University and Nankai University in Yunnan province from 1938 to 1946, when north China was occupied by Japanese invaders.
c. “Martyrs' Monument” in the title is erected at the Lianda former site (in the old campus of Yunnan Normal University) to honor those dead in the 12.1 incident in 1945, when patriotic students in Kunming were killed by armed authorities.
d. Patriotism in Line 4 is expressed in the Chinese phrase “cùn qíng”, or “寸草心/cùn cǎo xīn” in another ancient Chinese poem. It literally compares a baby in love of its mom to a grass eager to repay the grace of sunshine, but here the semantic meaning is extended from filial respect to national sentiment.
e. The “stolen heavenly fire” in Line 5 is an allusion of the Prometheus story in Western literature.

A view of late spring in central Yunnan's Daguan Park

The four poems above all follow the poetical meter of the Tang Dynasty, but the final observes a metrical pattern of the Song Lyrics that feature different tones.

V
xī jiāng yuè
西江月
yáng shēng ān
杨升庵

hán shí qīng míng guò le
寒食清明过了，
mǔ dān sháo yào kāi cán
牡丹芍药开残。
chūn guāng wǎn wǎn xìng lán shān
春光晼晚兴阑珊。
jì jì zhòng mén dú yǎn
寂寂重门独掩。

bǐng zhú shuí tóng yè yǐn
秉烛谁同夜饮，
tiān yī shàng qiè chūn hán 。
添衣尚怯春寒。
yù xún fāng cǎo xiàng jiāng gàn
欲寻芳草向江干。
yú jiá yáng huā mǎn àn
榆荚杨花满岸。

The Daguan River empties into the Dianchi Lake in central Yunnan's Kunming. Photo/Wang Shixue

Tune: Moon over the West River
Writing by Yang Sheng'an; Translating by Wang Shixue

Days for cold food and mourning go by,
Various peony flowers withering away.
Late spring sight weakens my mood；
In loneliness, I keep the doors closed.

Candle in hand, who do I drink with tonight？
Adding clothes, I still shiver at spring cold.
I head for the riverside to look for grass sweet,
Only to see elm pods and willow catkins take hold.

Culture ABCs:
a.Yang Shengan (1488-1559), native to Sichuan province, is a high-ranking official of the Ming Dynasty, who was banished to Yunnan for over 30 years. Separated from his family long, Yang presented a generally sad tone in this lyric, but he also managed to find an emotional self-comfort in the dazzling sights of the province, as is suggested in the ending images of “elm pods and willow catkins”.

The Qingming Festival is probably the most sentimental day. For one thing, it makes us sad for it reminds us of our beloved ones who would never be able to come to be with us again in reality but in dreams. For the other, the day allows us to look into a promising future in the flowering season. The day is bitter-sweet.

Online Chinese sources; Yunnan Daily photos; Trans-editing by Wang Shixue