The poem "Mooring at Fengqiao at Night" expresses the poet's thoughts and feelings of silence and loneliness during the journey: Hanshan Temple outside Suzhou City, the midnight bell rings to the passenger ship.
The red and bright maple leaves on the riverside, the picturesque and poetic fishing fires on the river, flickering on the rippling blue waves, are the night scenes deliberately painted by the poet. But facing the picturesque scenery, the poet did not feel any joy, but instead made his depression more intense.
"The bell rings at midnight." It's late at night, the moon has set, the sky is covered with frost, and everything is silent. But what reached the author's eardrums was the dull bells of Hanshan Temple, which reminded the poet of the monotonous and boring monk life of "ancient Buddha with green lanterns and bells at dusk and morning bells".
"Mooring at Maple Bridge at Night" is a work by Zhang Ji, a poet of the Tang Dynasty. After the Anshi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty, Zhang Ji wrote this poem about traveling while passing by Hanshan Temple. This poem accurately and delicately describes the observation and feelings of a passenger boat berthed at night on the late autumn night scene in the south of the Yangtze River. It outlines the sceneries of the setting moon and crows, frosty cold nights, river maples and fishing fires, and lonely boats and passengers.
Creative background:
According to the third volume of "The Biography of Talented Scholars of the Tang Dynasty", Zhang Ji succeeded "Yang Jun, the Minister of Rites, in the twelfth year of Tianbao (753)", that is to say Passed the Jinshi examination. And in January of the fourteenth year of Tianbao (755), the Anshi Rebellion broke out. In June of the fifteenth year of Tianbao (756), Xuanzong rushed to Shu in a hurry.
Because the political situation in Jiangnan was relatively stable at that time, many scribes fled to the present-day Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas to avoid chaos, including Zhang Ji. One autumn night, the poet was boating on Maple Bridge outside Suzhou. The beautiful scenery of the autumn night in the Jiangnan water town attracted this guest with travel worries, allowing him to appreciate a kind of poetic beauty with lasting appeal, and he wrote this short poem with a clear and far-reaching artistic conception.
The second volume of "Zhongxing Jianqi Collection" compiled by Gaozhong Wu of the Tang Dynasty contains this poem by Zhang Ji, titled "Moving in the Fengjiang River at Night". This poem was included in "Wenyuan Yinghua" compiled by Li Fang and others of the Song Dynasty, and the poem was titled "Mooring at Night on Maple Bridge".