Remembering the Shandong Brothers on September 9th
Author: Wang Wei
Remembering the Shandong Brothers on September 9th/Remembering the Shandong Brothers on September 9th (Wang Wei)
Being a stranger in a foreign land, I miss my family even more during the festive season. I know from afar that when my brothers climbed to a high place, there was only one less person planting dogwood trees.
Translation
I am roaming alone in a foreign land, and I miss my loved ones even more every festive season. I know that in that distant hometown, my brothers must be climbing high and looking into the distance; they all have dogwood trees planted in them, and they feel sorry and sad for missing me.
Note: September 9th: refers to the Double Ninth Festival on September 9th of the lunar calendar, also called the Old Man's Day. Memories: miss. Shandong: refers to the east of Huashan Mountain (today’s Shanxi). The author’s hometown, Qixian County, Shanxi, is in this area. Foreign land: foreign land, foreign land. To be a stranger: to be a guest in a foreign land. Climbing: There is an ancient custom of climbing during the Double Ninth Festival. Cornus officinalis (zhū yú): a kind of herb. In ancient times, people wore dogwood on the Double Ninth Festival, which was said to ward off evil spirits. Shandong Brothers: Shandong refers to the east of Huashan Mountain. Wang Wei was from Puzhou (today's Yongji, Shanxi Province), which was to the east of Huashan Mountain, and Wang Wei was in Chang'an to the west of Huashan Mountain at that time, so he called the brothers in his hometown Shandong brothers. September 9th is the Double Ninth Festival, and there is a custom of climbing in some places in China. Volume 32 of "Taiping Yulan" quotes "Feng Tu Ji" as saying: "It is customary on this day to use the dogwood tree to make the air mature. On this day, break the dogwood room and put a plug in it to ward off the heat and keep out the early cold.
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