From: "Apricot Curtain in View" by Cao Xueqin of the Qing Dynasty.
The apricot curtain invites guests to drink, and there is a villa in sight.
Lingyin and goose are in the water, and mulberry and swallow are in the beam.
A border is green with spring leeks, and ten miles of rice flowers are fragrant.
When there is no hunger or discouragement in the prosperous age, there is no need to be busy with farming and weaving.
Translation:
The yellow wine flag attracts guests to come and have a drink. Looking from a distance, they can only see the vague mountain villa.
The lake surface planted with water chestnuts is a place for geese to play in the water, and the branches and leaves of mulberry and elm trees are the roof beams for swallows to build their nests.
A border of leeks grows green in the spring breeze, and the rice fields are filled with the fragrance of pollen.
In the prosperous age of enlightenment, there will no longer be famine and cold, so why bother farming and weaving?
Creative background:
"Apricot Curtain in View" comes from the 18th chapter of "A Dream of Red Mansions". It is one of the eleven "Ode to the Grand View Garden" and is a poem about the Yuan Dynasty Concubine's tour. The work "Praise to Saints and Entertainment" during the Grand View Garden period was written by Lin Daiyu on behalf of Jia Baoyu. Since this period was the heyday of the Jia Mansion, the Jia Mansion was filled with singing and dancing.
In "Ode to the Grand View Garden", the luxurious scene in the Grand View Garden is fully described, filled with words to praise virtues and whitewash peace, revealing strong feudal orthodox thoughts. But it expresses the thoughts, feelings and character traits of different characters to varying degrees. Lin Daiyu, a rebel in the feudal version, used this poem to express her inner world of hating darkness and despising vulgarity.