1 弦歌酒宴舉目同 Banquet music of the zithers
rose, our eyes met at the same time,
2 猶豫曾似昨夜夢 In hesitation, as if a dream
from last night.
3 暗淚先滴杯未落 Secret tears a trickled even before
the wine cup is at rest,
4 梅雨無聲雪地紅 Silent plum blossom rain,
staining the snow-covered ground in red.
5 一春十六牡丹盛 One spring of sixteen, when
peonies are blossoming in profusion,
6 亭外兩心蝶戀逢 Ill-met are the two hearts of butterfly lovers by the pavilion.
7 可恨今世女兒身
Spiteful is this life of
a girl’s body,
8 遺憾樓高困彩鳳 The regrets of a multi-colored
phoenix; in the high tower imprisoned.
1.Taken and adapted from a
line in Thousand Character Classic (千字文) 弦歌酒宴, 接杯舉觴
5.
An allusion to The Peony Pavilion 牡丹亭 where the hero dreamt of the
heroine. The play was considered obscene because of free choice of love which
goes against the grain of Confucian ethics.
6. Another
allusion – The Butterfly Lovers, Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet.
7. Women in ancient China are considered as
properties of the parents, then the husband when married and then of the sons if
the father is gone. However, there are
loopholes because of filial piety. There
are many strong women in the long history of China. The most famous being Empress Wu, who broke many precedents and gave much
equality to the fairer sex.
8.
Unmarried girls are resided in the highest location of the house.
Thursday, October 31, 2019
No comments:
Post a Comment