From "Cold Food" by Han Hong, a poet of the Tang Dynasty
Flowers are flying everywhere in the spring city, and the east wind of Cold Food keeps the willows from slanting.
At dusk, candles were passed around the Han Palace, and light smoke dispersed into the house of the Five Marquises.
Appreciation
According to Meng Qi's "Poem of Benshi": Dezong lacked talents when he was making imperial edicts. Zhongshu Province nominated him for imperial approval, and Dezong replied: "With Han Hong" , there were two Han Hongs at that time, so Zhongshu Province submitted the documents in their names at the same time.
Dezong criticized Han Hong who wrote "Spring City has flowers flying everywhere". Although this is a good story, it shows the wide spread and appreciation of the poem "Cold Food".
This is a satirical poem, but the poet's writing style is clever and subtle. On the surface, it seems to just depict a rich and interesting custom painting in Chang'an City during the Cold Food Festival. In fact, you can feel the author's strong dissatisfaction through the lines, and he made a profound satire on the powerful and domineering eunuchs at that time. After the mid-Tang Dynasty, several faint emperors favored the eunuchs, which made them very powerful, corrupted the government, and excluded the officials. Upright people were extremely angry about this. This is why this poem was written.
"There are flowers flying everywhere in the spring city, and the cold east wind keeps the willows from falling." These two sentences describe the scenery of Chang'an City in spring when the flowers are blooming and the willows are blowing. "Nowhere" refers to the numerous and wide flowers blooming, and "Flying Flowers" describes the grand occasion of flower blooming. It is spring, and Chang'an City is full of flying flowers and catkins, creating a colorful and gorgeous scene. "East wind" refers to the spring breeze, and "Yu Liu Xian" imitates the swaying posture of the willows in the palace garden blown by the spring breeze. The word "Xian" is used wonderfully, vividly describing the swaying spirit of the willow branches. This is the daytime view of the capital during the Cold Food Festival. The scenery changes from big to small, from the whole city to the palace. Next, I will write about the scene of the palace garden in the evening. "At dusk, candles were passed around the Han Palace, and light smoke dispersed into the houses of the five princes." It is written that at dark time, candles gifted by the emperor to the eunuchs were passed around the palace garden. The candle burns brightly, and a faint smoke rises, lingering in the eunuch's house, and the momentum of Weifu Enga is everywhere! It makes people see their hot, triumphant and arrogant demeanor. Under the rule of feudal customs, not to mention the people in the city, even the homes of court officials who are not favorites would probably be in darkness on the cold food night when fireworks are prohibited.
Only these eunuchs’ homes are brightly lit with candles and filled with smoke. The whole leopard can be seen from one spot. This alone shows how these eunuchs usually rely on their power and oppress the virtuous. The author only uses two lines of poems here to write about a matter of passing candles, and the emperor's kindness to the trusted eunuchs is exposed.