Poetic Yunnan 1: The Long Couplet at Daguan Pavilion
Editor’s note:
Yunnan is a land of poetry and dreams, and it aims to be a major Chinese province in cultural tourism. To make global visitors feel at home and have a fuller appreciation of the many-splendored Yunnan life, we’ll roll out a series of provincial poems in the days to come. Today, let’s have the famed Long Couplet at Daguan Pavilion, together with two translated versions. The upper scroll depicts the landscape around Dianchi Lake, while the lower scroll focuses on the history of Yunnan and the author's emotion.
A view of the Daguan Pavilion park
dà guān lóu cháng lián
大 观 楼 长 联
sūn rán wēng
孙 髯 翁
wǔ bǎi lǐ diān chí
五 百 里 滇 池，
bēn lái yǎn dǐ
奔 来 眼 底。
pī jīn àn zé
披 襟 岸 帻，
xǐ máng máng kōng kuò wú biān
喜 茫 茫 空 阔 无 边！
kàn
看：
dōng xiāng shén jùn
东 骧 神 骏，
xī zhù líng yí
西 翥 灵 仪，
běi zǒu wān yán
北 走 蜿 蜒，
nán xiáng gǎo sù
南 翔 缟 素。
gāo rén yùn shì
高 人 韵 士，
hé fáng xuǎn shèng dēng lín
何 妨 选 胜 登 临，
chèn xiè yǔ luó zhōu
趁 蟹 屿 螺 洲，
shū guǒ jiù fēng huán wù bìn
梳 裹 就 风 鬟 雾 鬓；
gèng píng tiān wěi dì
更 苹 天 苇 地，
diǎn zhuì xiē cuì yǔ dān xiá
点 缀 些 翠 羽 丹 霞。
mò gū fù
莫 辜 负：
sì wéi xiāng dào
四 围 香 稻，
wàn qǐng qíng shā
万 顷 晴 沙，
jiǔ xià fú róng
九 夏 芙 蓉，
sān chūn yáng liǔ
三 春 杨 柳。
shù qiān nián wǎng shì ，
数 千 年 往 事，
zhù dào xīn tóu
注 到 心 头，
bǎ jiǔ líng xū
把 酒 凌 虚，
tàn gǔn gǔn yīng xióng shuí zài
叹 滚 滚 英 雄 谁 在？
xiǎng
想：
Hàn xí lóu chuán
汉 习 楼 船，
táng biāo tiě zhù
唐 标 铁 柱，
sòng huī yù fǔ
宋 挥 玉 斧，
yuán kuà gé náng
元 跨 革 囊。
wěi liè fēng gōng
伟 烈 丰 功 ，
fèi jìn yí shān xīn lì
费 尽 移 山 心 力，
jìn zhū lián huà dòng
尽 珠 帘 画 栋，
juàn bú jí mù yǔ zhāo yún
卷 不 及 暮 雨 朝 云；
biàn duàn jié cán bēi
便 断 碣 残 碑，
dōu fù yǔ cāng yān luò zhào
都 付 与 苍 烟 落 照。
zhǐ yíng dé
只 赢 得：
jǐ chǔ shū zhōng
几 杵 疏 钟，
bàn jiāng yú huǒ
半 江 渔 火，
liǎng háng qiū yàn
两 行 秋 雁，
yì zhěn qīng shuāng
一 枕 清 霜。
A view of the Daguan Pavilion park
The Long Couplet at Daguan Pavilion (Version 1)
Translating by Xu Yuanchong
The Kunming Lake extending a hundred miles around rolls before my eyes. Wearing my hood high and throwing my chest out, how happy I am to see the vast expanse of water!
Behold! the Golden Steed galloping in the east, the Green Phoenix flying in the west, the Long Snake serpentine in the north and the White Crane planing in the south.
Brilliant talents may come to the height and enjoy the sight, visit the crab-like or shell-like islets which look like beauties with hair flowing in the air or veiled in the mist, where duckweed and reed outspread as far as the sky dotted with green-feathered birds and rainbow-colored clouds.
How can you not enjoy your fill of the fragrant paddyfields all around, sparkling fine sand far and near, slender lotus blooms in late summer and swaying willow trees in early spring!
The historical events passed thousands of years ago pour into my mind. Holding a cup of wine and facing immensity, I sigh, for how many heroes have passed away with rolling waves.
Remember the warships manoeuvred in ancient times, the iron pillar erected in the golden age, the frontier pacified with jade ax in the silver epoch and the leather rafts crossing the turbulent river in modern era.
Valiant exploits have exhausted mountain-moving strength mental and physical, but pearly screens and painted beams last not longer than morning clouds and evening rain, and broken stone tablets and ruined monuments lie buried in the grizzling smoke and the sun's departing rays.
What remains is only sparse bells ringing in cold hills, fishermen’s lantern lights by riverside, two rows of wild geese flying in autumn sky and a dreary dream of hoary winter frost.
A night view of the Daguan Pavilion park
The Long Couplet at Daguan Pavilion (Version 2)
Translating by Xie Baikui
Dianchi Lake measuring five hundred li around
Seems coming into view at a single bound.
Moving up my headdress and unlacing my robe,
I am gladly surveying the immense void over the globe.
Behold! The eastern hills remind one of a galloping divine steed,
The western hills resemble a graceful phoenix indeed,
The northern hills curve like a sinuous snake,
And the southern hills simulate a white crane hovering by the lake.
Ye poets, why not ascend and choose the right place in the belvedere,
So as to enjoy the best views that surround you far and near?
Such as the islets and sandbars in the shape of crabs and snails
That look like chignons combed by wind and fog's nails?
And then the vast expanse of floats and reeds between earth and sky,
Spotted with the emerald birds and the vermilion light of the clouds on high?
Would that ye the hope of nature did not belie,
That ye did justice to the aroma of rice wafting by,
And to the sands, spread over a long stretch, softly glistening,
And to the lotus flowers in summer and willow trees in spring.
The events of the past millennia are brought to mind.
Holding my wine cup over the vacant space I sigh to find:
The heroes bent on conquering Yunnan are gone, but where?
Where are the Han Emperor who ordered the drilling in naval warfare
And the Tang Emperor who erected an iron pillar to mark his victory?
Where are the Song Emperor who flourished a jade-ax to cut a truce boundary
And the Yuan Emperor who, to cross the Dadu , rode on a raft of ox-hide?
The feats of conquest cost indeed the efforts of moving mountains aside!
But all vanished, only the pearled curtains and the painted columns remain,
Which scarcely keep off the morning clouds and the night rain,
And the broken stelae and the ruined monuments merged in one,
All lost in the bluish mist and the glow of the setting sun.
They have gained but a few strokes of the temple bell that a dreamer wake,
And the fishing boats' lamp lights dotting half a lake,
And two lines of wild geese that pass in autumn over the clime,
And a pillow covered with crystalline rime.
Editing by Wang Shixue