"I still miss Xiang Yu and refuse to cross the Yangtze River" comes from "Summer Quatrains" by Li Qingzhao, a female poet in the Song Dynasty. The full poem is as follows:
"Summer Quatrains"
Li Qingzhao [Song Dynasty]
He was a hero in life and a hero in death.
I still miss Xiang Yu and refuse to cross Jiangdong.
Vernacular translation:
When you are alive, you must be a hero among men, and when you die, you must be a hero among ghosts.
People still miss Xiang Yu because he refused to return to Jiangdong secretly.
Word notes:
Summer quatrains: This title can be found in "Xiushui Shichao". Volume 11 of "History of Poets", Volume 17 of "The Continuation of Tong Guan's Posthumous Collection", Volume 18 of "Return of Poems of Celebrities", Volume 7 of "Poems of Celebrities in the Past Dynasties", Volume 12 of "Qianlong Zhangqiu County Chronicle" is titled "Wujiang" .
Renjie: A hero among people, a person with outstanding intelligence. Liu Bang, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, once praised the founding heroes Zhang Liang, Xiao He and Han Xin as "outstanding people".
Ghost hero: The hero among ghosts. Qu Yuan's "Nine Songs·National Sorrow": "Since the body is dead, the spirit is the spirit, and the soul is resolute and is the ghost hero."
Xiang Yu: The leader of the peasant uprising army in the late Qin Dynasty, he established himself as the overlord of the Western Chu, and fought with the Qin army for nine years. All battles are lost. Later, he fought with Liu Bang for the world and was trapped in Gaixia. He broke through to Wujiang (now northeast of He County, Anhui Province). He committed suicide because he was too embarrassed to see his elders in Jiangdong.
Jiangdong: Jiangnan. The Yangtze River flows northeast between Wuhu and Nanjing. Before the Sui and Tang Dynasties, it was the main ferry crossing between the north and the south. From then on, it was customary to call the area on the south bank of the Yangtze River Jiangdong. Xiang Yu initially followed his uncle Xiang Liang to raise troops in Wuzhong, Kuaiji County. The Qin Dynasty's Kuaiji County was located in Wuxian County (now Suzhou, Jiangsu Province).
Creative background:
In 1127 AD (the second year of Jingkang), Jin soldiers invaded the Central Plains and kidnapped the Hui and Qin emperors. The Zhao and Song dynasties were forced to flee south. Li Qingzhao's husband Zhao Mingcheng was appointed as the prefect of Jiankang. A rebellion broke out in the back city. Zhao Mingcheng did not want to quell the rebellion, but instead fled. Li Qingzhao felt ashamed for his country and his husband. When passing by Wujiang River, he felt the tragedy of Xiang Yu and wrote this poem.
Appreciation of the work:
The first two lines of the poem are striking and striking. "Renjie" comes from "Historical Records: The Benji of Emperor Gaozu" and refers to virtuous ministers and generals such as Zhang Liang, Xiao He and Han Xin; "Ghost Hero" comes from Qu Yuan's "Nine Songs: National War": "When the body is dead, the spirit is the spirit, and the soul is resolute and is the ghost hero. "The highly concise verses clearly and resoundingly sing Li Qingzhao's life values: sacrifice for the country, no need to fear life or death! Since the pre-Qin Dynasty, this spirit of patriotism has been the mainstream of Chinese culture, and Li Qingzhao's life values ??are the personal embodiment of this cultural spirit. But if these two poems are placed in the perspective of female literature, they have a more profound meaning. For women, the cruelty of war is that they cannot join the army and defend their home and country like men. They can only be the recipients of lamentations and groans under the iron heel. However, in Li Qingzhao's writing, her self-image is not that of a weak person waiting to be saved. Although she could not be present on the battlefield in person, she never stayed out of it. She was concerned about the current situation, lamenting the injustice of the anti-Jin people who were deeply suppressed, and she did not hide her contempt and anger towards the Southern Song Dynasty monarchs and ministers who fled with their lives.
The last two sentences of the poem are satirical by chanting history. Xiang Yu was defeated and retreated to the Wujiang River. The captain of the Wujiang Pavilion treated him with a boat and advised him to temporarily avoid the east of the river and regain his strength. However, Xiang Yu refused to cross eastward. He thought he had no face to see his elders east of the river and committed suicide by the riverside. During the conflict between Chu and Han, Xiang Yu exposed many shortcomings as a military leader. However, at the last moment of his life, he showed the fearlessness of a hero. In Li Qingzhao's view, he is worthy of the title of "hero" and "ghost hero". In the context of the Jin soldiers marching southward and the Song Dynasty monarchs and ministers fleeing in the face of the wind, Xiang Yu's "reluctance to cross the Yangtze River" was even more critical. In terms of the situation at that time, the Jin soldiers were alone in advancing deep. Some of the states and counties north and south of the Yellow River were still in the hands of the Song people. Although some had been occupied, the number of Jin soldiers was not large and their foothold was not stable; under the influence of the Jin soldiers, Under the attack, anti-Jin rebels rose up in the Taihang Mountains, threatening the rear of the Jin soldiers; if Zhao Gou could make up his mind to resist the Jin, there would be great potential for the Central Plains. However, Zhao Gou had no desire to restore the territory and defend the people from the beginning, so he fled south in a hurry with his officials. As soon as he took a breather, he settled in Lin'an.
Citing Xiang Yu's refusal to cross eastward is a bitter satire on the cowardly monarchs and ministers of the Southern Song Dynasty who only wanted to escape for their lives. As for Zhao Mingcheng's behavior of escaping in the face of danger, Li Qingzhao, who had always been upright and upright, felt a lot of disappointment in his heart. The words "hero" and "ghost hero" should also contain advice and encouragement to her husband.
This is a nostalgic poem that uses the past to satirize the present and expresses grief and indignation. It is also a commentary on current affairs written in the form of poetry. The whole poem is literally just an expression of emotion for the heroes of thousands of years ago, but its condemnation of current events is beyond words. It was because of the defeat of the imperial court that her family was ruined, and as a result, she was displaced and experienced all the hardships in the world. Facing the current situation, she had no choice but to feel the resentment of "You are a traitor to the country, and I am a traitor to my family" ("Miscellaneous Poems after the Military Rebellion" by Lu Benzhong). This kind of resentment was also the common resentment of millions of people who suffered hardship at that time. Therefore, this poem not only expresses personal grief and indignation, but also the voice of the common people. It is rare that such a poem was written by a woman in the feudal era.
About the author:
Li Qingzhao (March 13, 1084 - May 12, 1155), No. Yi Anju, Han nationality, was from Zhangqiu, Jinan, Shandong Province. A poet in the Song Dynasty (at the turn of the Southern and Northern Song Dynasties), a representative of the Wanyue Ci School, she is known as "the most talented woman in the ages". In the early stage of his poems, he wrote mostly about his leisurely life, and in the later stage, he mostly lamented his life experience and had a sentimental mood. In terms of form, he makes good use of line drawing techniques, creates his own channels, and uses clear and beautiful language. The argument emphasizes the law of association, advocates elegance, puts forward the saying "don't be the same family" in lyrics, and opposes writing lyrics in the same way as poetry. He is capable of poetry, but not much remains. Some of his chapters are timely and historical, and his sentimental words are generous, which is different from his style of writing. There are "Collected Works of Yi An" and "Yi An's Ci", which have been lost. Later generations have a compilation of "Shu Yu Ci". Now there is "Li Qingzhao's Collection and Annotations".